The Places We Hide
by HbisYellow
Summary: At the beginning, Daryl meets Harper, an ER nurse thrust into their group of survivors. While they're learning to lean on each other, Shane becomes a problem for Harper. DarylxOC. Set in the 1st and 2nd seasons with plans for sequels. Slow burn.
1. Chapter 1

**The Places We Hide**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

**Pairing: Daryl x OC**

**Rating: M (little bit of a slow burn. It's Daryl guys)**

**Location: The Quarry**

* * *

"We should go around and introduce ourselves. If we're gonna be together for a while, might as well get to know each other," A dark haired male with a crooked nose told the group. Harper glanced around at the other huddled faces and pulled her thin jacket tighter around her.

"I'll start. Name is Shane; I'm a sheriff deputy. I was off duty when the military came in shooting up the hospitals. I got out as fast as I could." Shane turned to the woman next to him. She had a young boy wrapped in her arms.

"I'm Lori, and this is my son, Carl. My husband died right before the outbreak; Shane was his partner. He came and helped us get out of town. I, um, was a school teacher."

Harper listened silently as everyone began introducing themselves. Dale, the man who befriended her on the backed up highway, was jovial and optimistic about what was happening. The pair of rednecks on her other side were getting under her skin. Scratch that. One of them was getting under her skin with his side comments. The other was silent, but his sharp eyes didn't miss a thing.

"What about you?" Harper glanced up and saw the group watching her, waiting for her to introduce herself. She cleared her throat and sat up a little.

"I'm Harper. I was an ER nurse in Macon. The military came in and started killing everyone, no questions asked. No one was sure how it was spreading at first. I hid in one of the badge entry medication rooms until it died down. I made it back to my house and got the hell out of there," Harper told them.

"You got lucky," Shane commented. Harper narrowed her eyes at that trying to decide how to take it.

"I hid in the cabinets. They blew the door off the hinges but didn't think to open any of the cabinet doors," Harper expanded, staring Shane down. Everyone was quiet until the annoying redneck broke in.

"It's ma turn now, ain't it? The name's Merle, and this is ma lil' brotha, Daryl. We was jus' passin' through and got caught in the roadblock like the rest 'a ya." Merle grinned at the group, letting his eyes land on Andrea and drift to Harper.

"Cain't say I'm disappointed by the company," He leered with a wink. Harper rolled her eyes and looked back into the fire, taking note that Daryl didn't open his mouth once. He'd kept his fingers laced together in front of his mouth, letting his elbows rest on his knees.

Shane took over after that, their new self proclaimed leader. He gave everyone duties and had an inventory taken of everything they had. Most of the women were put to work around the camp with mind numbing chores while the men hunted, patrolled and scavenged. The inherent male domination at camp made Harper want to leave altogether, but she didn't think she would last long on her own. With Atlanta no longer an option, she didn't even know which direction to head in.

After that first night at the camp, Harper spent her days helping with daily chores and watching the group. She watched little miss widow run off in the woods with her dead husband's partner for a quick lay. She watched Carol cower to her abusive husband, Ed. And she watched the Dixon brothers. Mainly Daryl. He did so much for the group and no one said anything to thank him. They wouldn't have nearly enough food if it weren't for his daily hunting trips.

Harper walked out of the tent Dale had given her to use and saw Daryl coming out of his, not too far from her. She made sure to set up close to them, knowing Shane would stay far away from the brothers. Something about the former cop was leaving an uneasy feeling in her stomach.

Harper grabbed her bag of clothes and walked up to Daryl.

"Got any clothes that need washing, Daryl?" She asked, drawing the redneck's attention to her. He narrowed his eyes and looked her up and down. His eyes were almost slits; Harper was surprised he could still see anything. She could see his proverbial hackles rising from her being so close.

"What? You hunt for us; least I can do is help with some laundry. That's all Shane seems to want the women to do anyway," She explained. Daryl studied her for a second longer and reached into his tent to grab a bag. He dropped it at their feet.

"Do whatcha want," He grunted and moved to walk away, but he stopped when his tent rustled again.

"What's all this? Well hello Miss Nurse, ya wanna wash ma drawers too?" Merle leered. Harper rolled her eyes and shouldered Daryl's bag, noting how light it was. He must not have very much with him.

"Daryl actually does something that benefits the group, you don't."

"I could do a whole lot ta _benefit _ya," Merle grinned down at her, puckering his lips up.

"In your dreams, Merle. You can keep your STDs to yourself." Harper nodded to Daryl and took their bags down to the quarry where the rest washed their clothes. She sat down next to Andrea and her sister and started pulling the clothes out.

Andrea glanced over and noticed a pair of boxers in Harper's pile. "You get roped into doing someone's laundry?" She laughed softly and scrubbed at a stain on one of her pullovers.

"Offered to do Daryl's." Andrea made a face, obviously not caring for Harper's answer.

"Why?"

"He does a lot for us, and no one takes the time to thank him." Andrea stopped messing with her shirt and moved her hands around like she was trying to find what she wanted to say.

"He's just so, so unapproachable and dirty. Both of them are!" Andrea's sister, Amy, looked uncomfortable and shied away from making eye contact with either of the women. Harper had to take a second to breathe before responding.

"We're all dirty, Andrea. We haven't seen running water in weeks, and if you're trying to lump Daryl with his brother, you're in the wrong. Merle and Daryl are two different people, and Daryl is carrying his weight in the camp. Let's see how long you last not eating what he brings back for us." Andrea pressed her lips into a tight line and didn't say anything after that. She scrubbed her clothes roughly and got up to leave as soon as she was done, dragging Amy behind her.

Harper wasn't phased by Andrea's bad attitude and kept cleaning Daryl's sleeveless button up.

When she was done, she headed back to camp and immediately felt eyes on her. Looking over, Harper caught Shane eyeing her down. Ignoring him, she started hanging their clothes up to dry on the line near their tents and then joined the others by the fire.

Carol was sporting a new bruise that no one wanted to comment on. She carefully avoided everyone's eyes and motioned for Sophia to go and play with Carl. The tiny thing of a girl nodded and walked over to her friend, looking over her shoulder several times to glance at her quiet mother.

"Ya know, you should be careful who you decide to buddy up to. The Dixons don't seem the type to repay the kindness you're showing them." Harper looked over her shoulder and saw Shane standing to her right, arms crossed as he looked over their camp.

"I'm not expecting something in return; I'm helping out." Shane scoffed and sat down next to her on the log they had as seating. Since their first day at camp, he rubbed her the wrong way. He must have noticed that she didn't worship the ground he walked on like some of the others did so he made it his mission to get under her skin.

"They're rabid dogs, Harper. They'll end up biting the hands that feed them. Ya wanna end up looking like Carol over there?" Shane warned. Harper finally turned to face Shane and moved in close so he would hear her.

"It's better than being near a snake you just know is going to strike." Shane's lip curled back in anger, but Harper stood up and left before he could say anything else. She made her way over to Dale's RV and leaned against it.

"You really know how to rile that man up," Dale chuckled from his lawn chair atop the RV. Harper snorted and looked up at him.

"He's just an easy target." Dale smiled down at her and started rummaging through one of his bags. He found what he was looking for and tossed it down at her. Harper caught the paperback book in her hands and smiled at the cover.

"How did you know I liked Thomas Harris?"

"When everyone was talking about their favorite movies last week, you made a comment about the Hannibal movies. I figured you would like the books too. I asked Glenn to keep an eye open on his last run," Dale explained.

"Thanks, Dale." Harper smiled and held the book up a little as she walked back to her tent.

* * *

_Harper turned up her music a little louder to drown out all the honking around her. The highway was at a complete standstill and no one was even inching forward. She'd cut the engine off a while back and rolled the windows down but left the battery on so the radio would still play. She leaned back and closed her eyes, but the loud mouth in the truck next to her started going off again._

"_Why the fuck ain't we movin'?!" Harper opened her eyes and looked to her right at the blue truck with the two men in it. The one talking looked a little older with a buzz cut and gray stubble covering his lower face._

"_Shut up, Merle," The other grumbled, biting his thumb nail. Rolling her eyes, Harper shut her car off all the way and got out like many others had._

"_Ah! She finally comes out!" Harper looked over at a cheery, older man sitting outside his RV. She smiled a little at him and nodded._

"_I'm Dale and this is Jim. Want something to drink?" Dale held up a water bottle for her._

"_Thank you, I'm Harper. Do y'all know what's stopping everyone from getting into the city?" Harper took a small sip of water while Dale shrugged his shoulders._

"_The radios have been pretty silent; just music on repeat. They haven't had any traffic updates either." Harper sighed and leaned against Dale's RV. It wasn't like she could go anywhere, not with all the cars in front and behind her keeping her stationary._

_The loud sound of helicopters and planes made everyone grow silent. People were climbing on top of their cars to get a better look. Harper watched the military airforce get closer to the city, and she watched as they dropped the first few bombs._

_People started screaming when the explosions sounded, but Harper was frozen in place, watching the smoke start to rise over Atlanta. It was Dale that urged her back into her car and told her to follow the caravan that was moving off the side of the highway. Dale saved her life._

* * *

Harper woke up, not realizing she'd dozed off, to the sound of someone walking past her tent. She unzipped her tent and peeked out. It was Daryl with a string of squirrels thrown over his shoulder. He walked over to a log near the outskirts of their camp and sat down with a bucket to start skinning them.

Seeing an opportunity, Harper set her book down to crawl out of her tent and head over to the hunter. She sat down beside him and watched him skin the first squirrel.

"Can I help?" Daryl looked sideways at her, barely acknowledging her presence next to him.

"Ya know how to?"

"Nope, but I'm a quick study."

"Ya got a knife?"

"No, I was hoping I guessed right and you had more than one on you."

Daryl stopped what he was doing and gave Harper a once over. He didn't understand why the girl was suddenly bothering him, but he didn't think it would hurt to let her try to skin their dinner. She either would prove useful and be able to help or she'd gag and leave him alone. He wasn't sure which outcome he really wanted to happen.

Grabbing his extra knife from its holster, he handed it to her along with one of the squirrels. Harper copied his earlier movements and started to prep the animal, taking the inner organs out and dropping them in the bucket.

"Ya ain't too bad. Thought ya'd be more squeamish," Daryl commented, working on the next one. Harper laughed softly and grabbed another squirrel.

"I worked in a level one trauma ER; I wasn't allowed to be squeamish."

They were silent as they worked, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Harper liked that Daryl didn't talk as much as the rest of their camp did. She also knew that Daryl had what it took to survive longer than any of the others; it was like he was made to succeed in this new world, and she wanted someone like that on her team. The more she got to know the hunter, the more she could learn from him and hopefully grow on him. She needed someone to have her back other than Dale. She liked the old man, but she needed more allies.

They finished and sat quietly next to each other before Daryl finally spoke up. Harper was surprised that he initiated any kind of contact; he usually ignored everyone at camp.

"Ya have a weapon?"

"I have a pocket knife-"

"Tsk, that ain't gonna do nothin' for ya out here. Keep ma knife, it's better than a damn pocket knife," Daryl grumbled and stood up. Harper bit back her smile and stood up too. He unbuckled the sheath from his belt loop and reached for Harper.

She didn't say anything as he fastened it to her pants. Finally realizing how close he was to her, Daryl's ears pinked up and he took a step back, putting space between them until he was more comfortable..

"Don't go losin' it or nothin'," He grumbled and moved away with the squirrels to go cook them.

"Thanks, Daryl!" She called happily, but he didn't turn around. Harper smiled and slid the knife into its holster that rested against her left hip. She looked over, feeling eyes again, and saw Shane staring between her and Daryl.

She wanted to get out of his line of sight, but Shane was already making his way over to her. He got close enough that Harper could see the artery near his temple pulsing.

"What kind of game are you playing here?" He snarled lowly. Harper glared right back at him and stood her ground, sick of him thinking he was king of the rock.

"I'm not playing a game, Shane. I'm learning to survive, and I want to learn from Daryl." She watched his nostrils flare. "What? Does that make you angry? That I would rather be around a redneck than a sheriff? Get it through your thick skull, Shane. I. Don't. Trust. You."

"You're making a mistake," He hissed.

"The only mistake I would make would be to let you watch my back. You would save yourself over anyone else. I'm calling it now. We'll have to see when your true colors come out." Shane went to say something else, but Dale showed up beside them.

"Everything okay here?" He looked pointedly at Harper, but she shrugged him off. Seeing that most of the camp had stopped what they were doing to watch them, Daryl included, Harper decided not to rile him up anymore.

"Everything's just peachy," She said a little too loudly and moved away to sit by the fire. She didn't know if the others had heard what was said, but they for sure saw the tension between Harper and Shane.

Daryl propped the meat up to cook and much to Harper's surprise, sat down next to her, leaving a good foot of space between them. He didn't say anything, but Harper knew they were making progress.

Daryl watched the rabbits cook over the fire and tried not to look at the blonde next to him. He'd heard enough of the conversation between her and the cop, and he didn't like what Shane had to say. It was nothing new; his family had a long running with the local law enforcement. But Harper surprised him.

He didn't understand why she would choose to be on his side instead of Shane's. Shane was an ass, but the entire camp flocked to him for answers, and he had no problem ordering everyone around.

Daryl did know one thing for sure; Harper was much better company than Merle.

Shane kicked a nearby bucket and stormed out of the camp. Everybody was quiet as they watched him leave, no one getting up to follow him, not even Lori. Carl was tucked into her side, probably not having seen that side of Shane before.

"If he keeps pushing me, he's not going to like what happens," Harper mumbled so only Daryl would hear her. He snorted and looked at the squirrels.

"Whatcha gonna do, girl? Gonna stab him?" He wasn't serious, but when Harper didn't say anything, he slid his eyes over to gauge her reaction. Her eyes were serious but thoughtful; it had his heart pick up a bit, not sure why he liked it.

"I will if I feel like he's gonna hurt me. Which I'm not so sure he won't do," She grumbled, looking up at Daryl. He was a good foot taller than her, even while they were sitting.

"He ain't gonna get a chance to." Harper smiled at his soft words and nodded.

* * *

**Note: I've been missing for a long time, mainly because I've come to a writer's block with my other stories and needed to take a hiatus. My love for The Walking Dead has been alive since the first season, but I never knew if I had what it takes to write a fanfiction about it. I have a rough outline down for this story as well as two others that could follow it. The first installation will be centered around seasons 1-2 with a few changes. This first chapter is a little shorter just to see if anyone likes it. The rest will be much longer.**

**~LL**


	2. Chapter 2

**The Places We Hide**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**Pairing: Daryl x OC**

**Rating: M **

**Location: The Quarry**

* * *

"Harper! We need your help!" Harper jumped up from where she was stringing more cans on twine and looked for who was calling her. A few men were helping Morales over to her; he had a death grip on his hand. She noticed blood dripping from between his fingers leaving spots all along the ground as they rushed over to her.

"What happened?" She asked, reaching for his hand. Within the first few days, the camp made her their go-to medic because of her five year experience as a trauma nurse. It wasn't a crazy amount of experience for the medical industry, but it was more than any of the others had. She was happy to do anything other than the domestic tasks all the other women were stuck with.

"I was trying to shave one end of a branch into a point to use for the traps, and I caught my palm with my knife," Morales explained and showed her the wound. Harper inspected it and quickly wrapped a clean cloth around his hand and led him to sit down so she could grab their first aid kit. One that Glenn was nice enough to keep stocked from his frequent supply runs into the city.

"It looks like it's deep enough to need stitches. I don't have any lidocaine to numb your hand so you're going to need to grin and bare it," Harper explained, looking over the split and bloody skin. Morales nodded and grabbed a clean rag to stuff in his mouth.

Harper grabbed a suture packet and then removed the cloth once again from his hand again. Opening the bottle of antiseptic, she poured it over his hand, cleaning it as best as she could. Morale winced and bit into the rag in his mouth. Holding the back of his hand in one of hers, Harper used her other hand to start the sutures.

Morales grunted in pain but didn't jerk his hand away. He clenched his teeth down on the rag harder and breathed heavily through his nose. His wife was notified by the men that brought Morales to Harper and she appeared by his side, rubbing one of his shoulders and speaking softly to him in his ear. Harper wasn't fluent in Spanish, but she'd picked up enough working in the hospital to understand she was comforting her husband.

Nurses didn't usually give stitches, but she'd seen enough doctors do them that she was confident enough in her abilities. A PA even took her aside one day to show her the different knots they tied when she was curious enough to ask about them.

Harper cut the needle from the thread and grabbed a bandage. She placed it over the sutures and then used an ace wrap to wind around his hand to keep the bandage in place.

"Sorry I had to torture you. That should be good for now. We have some pain killers you can take but try not to use your hand too much. I don't want you to pop a stitch and make me replace it. I'll check it throughout the week and make sure there aren't any signs of infection," She explained.

Morales nodded and lightly cradled the now bandaged hand. "Thanks, Harper. I don't know what we would do without you." Harper waved him off and watched his wife take him over to their tent.

"Hey Miss Nurse, I gotta boo boo I need ya ta look at for me," Merle's raspy voice called from behind her. Rolling her eyes, she turned to face him. A perverted grin covered Merle's face, and he grabbed the crotch of his pants and pouted.

"It hurts; I think it needs a woman's touch ta make it feel better."

"Go fuck your hand, Merle and leave me out of it." Harper walked away from him towards the woods in the direction she'd seen Daryl leave earlier.

"I'm gonna have ya screamin' ma name!" Merle yelled after her.

Harper walked as quietly as she could through the trees, eyes alert and looking for signs of her redneck friend. Her left hand rested on the snap button of her knife holster just in case she needed to quickly release it.

It was quiet. No cars or snarling walkers to be heard; not many walkers made it this far into the wilderness. She paused and looked at the ground to see if she could tell if Daryl had been through here earlier, but it just looked like the forest floor to her. Lots of dirt and leaves everywhere... She continued on her way, keeping her eyes forward.

"Damn girl, yer like a fuckin' bull inna china shop," Daryl said from her right. Harper grabbed her knife and spun towards him. He raised an eyebrow and glanced down at his former knife that was pointed right at his chest. Seeing that it was the man she was looking for, Harper put the knife away.

"Jesus, Daryl. Trying to give me a heart attack?" She paused for a minute and thought about what he'd said, "What do you mean? I was being as quiet as I could!"

"If that was ya bein' quiet, I don't wanna see ya bein' loud." Harper's eyes widened and she broke into a smile.

"Did you just tease me? Are we becoming friends, Daryl Dixon?" She asked, walking closer to him. Daryl just grunted and moved to keep walking; Harper followed closely behind him, trying to match his steps.

"Pick yer feet up more," He grumbled, eyeing their surroundings, "You'll scare all the game away at this rate."

"So you're saying I can stay out here with you?" Harper asked with an easy smile. Daryl ignored her and lifted his crossbow, looking for anything he could shoot and bring back to camp. Harper never lost her smile and studied Daryl, trying to walk like him.

After a while, it was completely silent. Harper was pretty proud of herself; she couldn't hear her footfalls anymore, and Daryl hadn't commented on her being noisy either.

Daryl was still leading them further into the trees, tracking something Harper couldn't see or hear. Everything around them looked still to her so she finally decided to speak up.

"What are you hunting?" Harper whispered, causing Daryl to falter a step or two almost like he'd forgotten she was behind him.

"Deer tracks." That was all he said, but Harper didn't question him anymore. Not hearing her ask anything more, Daryl slowed down and pointed to the dirt, crouching down to get closer. Harper followed him, almost kneeling on the ground.

"See this hoof mark? This is a deer, big one too. He's headin' that way; you can see where he's brushed against those bushes and snapped some branches." Harper looked at all the clues he pointed out and grinned.

"I never would have noticed all this. This is amazing, Daryl!" Daryl stood up, looking a little pink and eyed the ground.

"S'nothing," He mumbled, voice much softer. Harper didn't mean to embarrass him, but she'd never taken the time to see any of the things Daryl is always looking for. It's no wonder he's so good at this. His eye for detail is so much more than anyone's at camp; the kind of eye that most law enforcement officers try to have when looking at a crime.

Harper followed Daryl again and took a moment to really look at him. He was such a different person from his brother. He wasn't loud or brash; if anything he was socially inept, and it made her wonder what his life was like growing up for him to be the way he is now. She imagined someone like Ed being his dad. Merle obviously coped with their family dynamic in a different way than Daryl did.

Now he seemed like Daryl was almost afraid to let others too close and that's why he pushed them away with his narrowed eyes and harsh words. Harper saw right through it though; she saw the barrier he was creating around himself to protect against those unwanted feelings and friendships.

Daryl held up a hand for her to stop walking and pointed ahead. Through the trees, Harper could see the buck. She held her breath, not wanting to make any noise to scare it off or distract Daryl before he could take the shot.

Daryl silently lifted the bow and took his aim. Harper could hardly see the arrow fire before she heard the thunk of it hitting the animal. The buck immediately fell to the ground and Harper squealed. The noise startled Daryl, and he turned to her like she'd grown another head.

"Oh my God! That was awesome! Let's go get him!" Harper took off jogging, Daryl right behind her.

"Hey! Don't jus' go runnin' off! There're still walkers out here," Daryl warned, but Harper was still all smiles. She looked around while she ran, but she didn't see any of the dead around or heard any of their snarls. She darted through the trees and lept over fallen logs, feeling carefree for the first time since the end of the world. Daryl was hot on her heels, not trying to stop her after she refused to listen the first time he said anything.

The two made it to the deer, and Harper frowned seeing it was still alive. Daryl sighed and knelt down with his blade unsheathed.

"Gotta end its sufferin'. Go for the artery," Daryl told her, showing her where to place the blade and make the incision. He quickly ended the buck's life and got more supplies out.

"Ya ever field dressed a deer?" Harper nodded softly.

"I went hunting a few times with my older brother." Daryl glanced up when she mentioned family but didn't ask any questions. He handed her a small, collapsible shovel and told her to get digging. The two worked to clean and gut the deer enough to take it back to camp.

Daryl avoided cutting the deer into pieces, instead opting to let it rest on his shoulders. He tried to maneuver his crossbow to keep it out of the way, but he ended up handing it off to Harper. She placed it across her chest and immediately felt the weight of his weapon pressing down on her. She couldn't believe he carried this thing daily.

"Careful with it," He told her and led them back towards camp. Harper chatted his ear off about wanting to learn how to track like him and become more of an asset. Daryl was quiet, but she could tell he was still listening to her because she could feel his eyes on her every now and then.

Harper adjusted the crossbow strap that ran across her chest and looked out at the trees. A low noise had her stopping altogether and looking out into the trees. Daryl stopped walking with her and looked to see a walker stumbling towards them.

"I haven't seen one in a while," Harper said quietly and got her knife out. Daryl went to set the buck down to help her, but Harper stopped him. There was only one. The two watched the walker get closer to them, starting to reach out hoping to grab one of them. Stepping to the side of the walker, Harper raised the knife up and shoved the blade into its temple. The walker fell to the ground, finally dead.

Harper wiped the knife off on a clean area of its shirt and placed it back in its holster. She rejoined Daryl again but was quiet this time. Daryl walked with her, sensing the change in her mood but keeping silent.

"The world will never be the same," Harper finally commented. Daryl didn't have to reply; she could see by the look in his eyes that he agreed with her.

"One day we'll all just be walkers, roamin' around, looking for our next meal," Harper mumbled, picking at the crossbow's strap.

"Nah, jus' gotta survive long enough ta be able ta live again," Daryl replied, keeping his eyes forward. Harper looked at his profile thoughtfully and ended up smiling. Survive long enough to be able to live again. She liked it.

When they made it back to camp, Dale was the first to greet them.

"Look what the cat dragged in! What a wonderful catch, Daryl," He praised, looking over the buck. Daryl grunted, falling back into his routine with the rest of the camp. Harper could see the walls falling into the place. It was a wonder she was able to sneak past them even a little bit.

A few of the other men showed up around Daryl to help him with the deer and started cutting it into different sections. Daryl let them do what they wanted with his hunt and turned back to Harper, gesturing for his bow.

"Oh! I almost forgot I had it! Funny with it being as heavy as it is," Harper said, huffing when she lifted the strap up. Daryl's lips twitched, going to help her get the crossbow off her. He shouldered the heavy load, and Harper thought he was going to say something to her, but he ended up nodding and moving away.

"Hey Harper!" Turning her eyes away from her silent friend, Harper saw Glenn walking over to her with a bright gleam in his eye.

"I'm going on a run soon. Do you need anything for the first aid kit? Or anything for you?"

"I have a list! Thank you for checking, Glenn. I really appreciate you helping me." Glenn cleared his throat and shrugged his shoulders, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"The camp needs to be ready for any injuries, and it looks like you've already put the kit to good use. I heard about Morales' hand."

"Yeah, we need more antiseptic and bandages for sure. Some of the stuff on the list will be hard to find outside of a hospital so don't worry about finding everything. But if you happen upon a pharmacy, they'll have a good chunk of it." Glenn nodded and took the list she'd pulled out of her pocket.

"Thanks for the book too. Dale told me you found it for me." This time Glenn flushed a little, looking down at his ratty converse.

"He said you'd like it," Was all Glenn got out. Harper smiled and squeezed his shoulder.

"I love it. Reading almost makes me forgot how the world's gone to shit," She laughed and let go of him. Glenn joined in and told her he was leaving in the morning if she thought of anything else she needed.

"Miss Harper?" She was getting lots of visitors today. Glenn left her so she could focus on Carl. The little boy was looking up at her nervously, wringing his hands together.

"What's wrong, Carl. Where's your mom and Shane?" She asked, looking around but didn't see them anywhere in sight. Surprise, surprise.

"They had to go check the traps, but I fell…" Carl trailed off. Harper crouched down and told him to show her where he got hurt. Carl moved his shorts up a bit and showed her his scraped up knees. They were bleeding and had little pieces of gravel embedded in them. She was surprised he wasn't crying. His eyes were red and watery, but he was holding himself together pretty well.

"C'mon, let's go sit down, and I'll help you clean them up. We can wait for your mom too." Carl nodded and took her hand. They sat down at the fire together and Harper got out the first aid kit. She had tweezers ready for the small rocks and a couple of bandages to put on afterward.

"You're really brave. No tears at all," Harper told him with a smile, using a little antiseptic to clean the first knee. He winced but smiled back at her.

"My dad told me to always be brave. So I could take care of my mom when he was at work. He was a sheriff's deputy like Shane. He wore a cowboy hat and had the coolest gun," Carl gushed. Harper let him talk, it took his mind off the pain in his knees.

"Your dad sounds really cool."

"He was!" Carl's smile fell a little, "I really miss him." Harper bandaged his knees and sat up.

"Come here, Sweetie." Carl sniffled and sat in her lap. He was close to being a preteen, but he didn't care. The first few tears fell, and Harper rubbed his back, letting him cry. She looked up and saw Daryl watching them from his tent. He quickly looked down and kept whittling a stick.

"I lost my mom when I was your age. I know how you're feeling; you'll always miss him, but it'll get better over time." Carl sniffled and nodded against her shoulder.

"Carl?! What's wrong? What happened?!" Lori came running over to them. Carl looked up at her with blood shot eyes. Lori pulled him into her arms and looked to Harper for answers.

"He hurt his knees pretty bad while you were gone. I cleaned him up; he should be good to go now. He did really well," Harper said, wiping a tear from his cheek. Carl smiled a little at her, happy she didn't mention him crying about his dad.

"Thank you," Lori told her sincerely. Harper nodded and stood to leave them with each other. As she walked away, she caught Shane's eyes, not realizing he'd been standing so close to them.

"Maybe you should keep your hook ups at night so Carl isn't left alone," She mumbled to him. Shane's hand shot out and grabbed her arm tightly enough that it could leave a bruise.

"Your mouth is going to get you in trouble one of these days," He growled. Harper raised an eyebrow and jerked her arm from his grip.

"I'd like to see you try, Shane."

Shane didn't stop her from leaving this time. Harper walked to her tent and zipped it closed behind her. She wasn't a stranger to men like Shane. Men who had to be in control and used force to ingrain it in others' heads until they got their way. Men like Ed and Daryl's father.

It didn't work on her before, and it won't work on her now. She refused to be backed into a corner until she gave in. If Shane thought he could bully her into submission, he was sorely mistaken.

* * *

**Note: Thank you everyone for the feedback I got this past week for the first chapter. I just love Daryl... Like it's a pretty bad obsession. Even being caught up to the most current season, he's still my favorite. I decided to keep this chapter about as long as the first one just to keep myself organized with the next few that I'm working on. Thank you again everyone! Please leave a review and let me know what you think!**

**~LL**


	3. Chapter 3

**The Places We Hide**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**Pairing: Daryl x OC**

**Rating: M**

**Location: The Quarry**

* * *

Someone was standing outside Harper's tent and attempting to knock or at least get her attention. She unzipped the flap and saw Daryl's boots. Looking up at him, Daryl jerked his head to the side, motioning towards the trees, keeping his eyes away from hers. He immediately started to walk away, not checking to see if Harper was coming or not.

Grinning, Harper scurried to pull her shoes on and follow him. They walked just out of the sight of camp before Daryl stopped and turned to face her.

"What're we doing out here?"

"Ya gotta know how ta use that knife." That was all he said to her, but it still brought a smile to her face. She was sure he saw her interaction with Shane the day before. Maybe this was his way of distracting her. In his gruff way, he was trying to look out for her, maybe even make her feel better.

Harper looked him over again like she usually did. He was dirty but so was everyone else in their camp. Daryl was different though; he was no stranger to hard work. The calluses on his hands were testament to his dedication to his bow and his hard life before this.

His eyes seemed to narrow, realizing she was sizing him up. Daryl wasn't an idiot like some thought; he actually seemed pretty insightful, but having a brother like Merle didn't encourage people to look past the surface to see what _he_ was like.

"Ya done makin' yer googly eyes?" He snapped, but it didn't have much bite to it. Seeing that he was getting more uncomfortable the longer she stared at him, Harper had mercy and nodded.

Daryl spent the morning showing her how to use the knife, which positions she could hold it in, different ways to use it on walkers and other people.

"Why would I use it on someone still alive?"

"The world ended, Harper. Use yer head. Yer gonna have somethin' someone else wants." Harper hadn't thought about other survivors being a threat until now. She saw Shane as a threat but not anyone else. It was eye opening, but it reiterated to her how much she needed help in this new world. She was still naive to how people acted when their hand was forced and supplies were scarce. Daryl didn't seem to have a problem calling it like it was; people could be as much of an enemy as walkers were.

In her head, she'd thought that survivors would just band together whenever they found each other, all striving towards a common goal. But the more she thought about it, the more Daryl was right. Rotten people were around before; they probably were still here too, ready to take advantage of the next person to cross their path.

The two were at it for a couple of hours when Daryl finally called it quits.

"Ya did good," He said, walking back to the camp. He was so blunt. Harper held back a laugh and jogged after him, reholstering her knife along the way. When they got back, she went to grab her book and read a little bit of it while she still had the downtime. It seemed the camp was taking the day to relax instead of doing their usual chores. Daryl saw her choice of literature and snorted.

"Ain't that the book about the cannibal?"

"You've read Hannibal?" Harper asked, surprised.

"Nah, just heard of it. Don't think I'd like it much." Daryl dipped his head and went inside his tent.

With his abrupt departure, Harper turned and walked to the grove of trees by her tent. She sat down at the base of one and went to open the book to where she'd ear marked it, but she stopped when she saw a familiar face pacing behind her, wearing a new path in the dirt. Harper was surprised to still see Glenn at the camp.

"I thought you were leaving this morning," She called over to him, drawing his attention to her. Glenn looked pissed. He stopped what he was doing and threw himself down next to her on the ground, crossing his arms.

"I was but Shane stopped me. He said we needed to wait and send a bigger group on the run so we could bring more supplies back."

"Okay… What has you so upset?" Harper asked, not quite understanding why this was making Glenn so mad. He threw his hands up in the air like it should be obvious to her.

"I've never taken someone else with me out there, let alone a group. I don't know how to keep everyone safe!" He cried. The light bulb in Harper's head went off. She closed her book and let it rest in her lap. Placing a gentle hand on his knee, Harper gave it a soft squeeze.

"Glenn, you'll be fine and so will the others. You're a pro at going on runs; just tell everyone what's expected of them. Do you know who's going with you yet?" Glenn shook his head, taking a deep breath to try to calm back down. He flushed a little, seeing Harper's hand still on him. She let it fall back in her lap and waited for him to continue.

"Shane's going to get volunteers soon, and then we'll leave tomorrow morning."

Harper looked over to see if Daryl was still in his tent, but she just barely caught a glimpse of him disappearing into the trees again. She was curious to see if he would try to go on the run; he'd probably be a big asset to have. With Glenn's sense of direction and Daryl's reflexes and hunting skills, they could make a pretty successful team.

"Everybody! Can I get your attention?" Shane called to the camp. Scratch what she'd just thought; looks like Daryl would be missing the enlistment. Harper stood and moved to the front of the gathering group with Glenn beside her.

"Glenn is going on a run tomorrow, and we need a group of volunteers to go with him. We're running low on supplies, and Glenn has done great getting what we need, but we need more hands to go with him," Shane announced to everyone.

Harper watched a few people hesitantly raise their hands. Glenn groaned softly when he saw people actually volunteering to go with him.

"I'll go too," Harper said, lifting her hand. Shane's eyes shot over to her, glare in place.

"You're not going."

"Why not? You just said we needed people to go, and this way I can find the supplies we need for our first aid kit instead of making Glenn look."

"You're not going, end of story." Harper went to snap back, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Well if little Miss Nurse cain't go, I'll go in 'er place," Merle called, winking down at Harper. She shrugged his hand off, but Shane accepted him instead of her. Shocked, Harper spun on her heel and headed into the trees towards the quarry.

Fuck Shane and his stupid pride. He was keeping her from going just to punish her for standing up to him. She knew it was childish, but she felt the sudden desire to throw a tantrum, kick the dirt, something!

Harper slowed down when she got closer to the water. Maybe a quick swim would lighten her mood before she had to get back to the others. She went to step out from behind the trees but stopped when she noticed someone else already there.

Daryl.

Harper moved quietly like he taught her until she was close enough to make sure it was him. He had his shirt cast aside and was cupping water in his hands to splash over his arms and chest to clean up.

It wasn't his shirtless body that grabbed her attention, even though her eyes definitely took a minute to look him over, but it was his scarred back. She went to back away and let him have his privacy, but she stepped back right into a bush, stumbling to the ground next to it.

Daryl was quick to grab his bow and spin around, aim locked on her. Seeing her sprawled on the ground, made him lower it, but his face was tense and guarded. His eyes were like ice, chilling her to the bone.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude; I was leaving when I fell."

"How long ya been there?" He asked, tersely, pulling his sleeveless shirt on.

"I saw your back if that's what you're wanting to know." Daryl breathed heavily and turned to walk away from her.

"Daryl! Wait!" Harper called, scrambling to her feet to go after him. Daryl stopped and turned back to her slowly, his entire posture tense and angry.

"Go back ta camp, Princess."

"Don't call me that."

"I ain't gonna be yer next charity case, ya thinkin' I can be fixed or some shit. Get off yer high horse."

"What the hell, Daryl?! I'm not thinking that at all. Where did that come from?"

"Yer face says it all. I don't need yer sympathy."

"Fuck, Daryl! You're not even listening to me, but you probably don't care what I have to say anyway. I stuck up for you, stayed by your side when I got shit for it, and this is how you treat me?"

"I never asked ya ta do that!" Daryl snapped back, walls firmly in place. Harper saw their budding friendship crumbling around her.

"Screw you, Daryl. I don't care about your back. So what if Daddy got rough with his belt? You're not the only one who went through shit growing up. Some of us just don't have the scars to show it," Harper whispered and spun on her heel to leave him, angrier now than when she first left the camp.

Daryl clenched his fists, his knuckles white as bleach, and swung one into the tree trunk next to him. Throwing his crossbow over his shoulder, he walked further from the camp, not planning to go back for a few days.

Harper was fuming when she got back to the RV. Dale saw her coming but decided to give her some space. Unfortunately, Shane didn't have the same thoughts.

He grabbed her by the arm again to stop her from going to her tent. Harper froze, feeling her anger start to bubble over. Shane manhandled her to face him, his hand still holding her bicep.

"We need to talk about your attitude-"

"Get your hand off me," Her voice filled with quiet fury.

"Excuse me?"

"Get your hand off me," She shook him off and looked dead in his eyes, "Grab me again and you'll find my knife in your throat."

Harper went into her tent and zipped it closed, ignoring Shane's angry voice outside. She didn't leave her tent for the rest of the day and evening.

When she opened her eyes again, it was already the next day. She crawled out of her tent, checking Daryl's on the way. Both brothers were gone, meaning Merle already left to go on the run with the others and Glenn, and Daryl either never came back or left well before she woke up.

Harper spent the day ignoring everyone. She wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, not after what happened with Shane and Daryl the previous day. The camp seemed to sense her mood because no one bothered her with little things. In fact, they seemed to stay a good ten feet away from her at all times.

She didn't really move until she heard a car alarm getting closer to their camp. Everyone stood up and looked to see where it was coming from. Shane ran to the road and waited for the red sports car to get close.

Once she saw it was Glenn, she calmed down, but no one else was with him. Amy was yelling her head off about Andrea, and Shane was trying to get the alarm to shut off. Everything was silent after that until Shane started ripping into Glenn.

Harper heard his comment about everyone being okay except for Merle and ran over to them, her first thought was Daryl losing his brother. She wanted to ask when he meant, but a truck pulled up the road behind them carrying all the other members of their group. Harper watched all the families be reunited and saw Carl start crying softly behind her.

Lori leaned down to talk to him, and Harper turned away, not wanting to invade their moment. She heard Glenn mention a new guy that helped them, but Harper was focused on looking for Merle. He was nowhere to be seen, and she dreaded Daryl coming back and finding his brother gone.

"Dad!" Carl screamed and ran past her. Harper jerked her head up and saw the small boy running into the new guy's arms. Harper's heart stopped, watching the man start crying as he fell to his knees, holding onto Carl for dear life. She looked over and saw Lori's face; it looked like she was seeing a ghost.

Harper slyly looked over to Shane; he didn't seem too pleased to see his supposedly dead partner alive. That was a can of worms Harper didn't want to be around when someone opened.

"Glenn, where's Merle?" Harper finally asked. Glenn just looked at her and shook his head as he walked away. She wanted to question him more, but she could tell everyone was tired from the trip.

Harper waited. She'd get her answers; she just hoped Daryl came back after she knew what happened so she could be between him and the rest of the camp. Even after their fight, she felt the need to protect him.

Once everyone was changed and fed, they piled around the fire and listened to the new guy, Rick, and how he ended up in Atlanta to begin with. Harper was interested to know how he was alive when Shane seemed adamant that he was dead before, but she cared most about what happened to Merle. She didn't like the guy, but he was Daryl's brother, and it would crush him if he was dead.

"Where's Merle?" She finally voiced once they got through Rick's story. The group grew somber around the fire and finally told everyone what happened. How he was cuffed to the roof and the keys were lost, but he was alive.

"Daryl's not going to be happy to hear his brother got left behind," Dale voiced the obvious. Harper listened to the men fight over who would be the one to tell him, but Harper started to drown them out. Merle was an insensitive dick, but leaving him behind? That was cut throat. She actually felt bad for the man.

"...nobody's fault but Merle's." Harper perked up when she heard Andrea.

"Shut up, Andrea. No one is going to say that to Daryl; it'll only make things worse. I'll tell him when he gets back; it'll be best if it comes from me," Harper told everyone. Andrea glared at her and went to say something else but was interrupted.

"Harper's right. Daryl will listen to her more than he would any of us," Glenn agreed.

"Who are you to Daryl?" Rick asked, wanting to know how everyone knew each other.

"A friend." Shane scoffed at her answer. "You have something you want to say to me, Shane?" Shane met her eyes and frowned.

"Nah, there are little ears around," He said, eyes shooting over to Carl who was laying on Rick's lap. Rick noticed the tension between them but left that conversation for later.

Harper paused but moved on from Shane's comment. "When Daryl comes back, I'll tell him about Merle. He's not going to be happy, but it's better than it coming from someone who left Merle there."

The camp was silent after that, and everyone ended up slowly breaking off to go to their tents for the night. Harper laid in her sleeping bag, dreading having to tell Daryl the news.

* * *

Harper was hanging around the RV the next morning when she heard the screams from the kids. The entire camp took off to find them, but they'd already made it back into the perimeter when the adults found them.

Carl was babbling about a walker, and they went to investigate. Harper stayed back with Carl and Sophia to make sure they didn't have any injuries. A couple of scrapes but nothing that needed medical attention.

Harper could see the walker eating a deer just downhill from them. Shane and Rick led the men to surround it and started attacking it once it noticed them there. Lori covered Carl's eyes when Dale decapitated it.

She watched the group relax only to tense up again when there was rustling in the trees ahead of them. Harper caught a glimpse of a crossbow and felt her stomach drop.

"Put your gun down, Shane. It's Daryl," She called, walking towards them. Shane glanced back at her and lowered his weapon when Daryl popped up from behind a rock, slowing when he saw everyone there.

"Sonuvabitch," He groaned, seeing a walker got to the deer before him. He kicked the walker's body for emphasis and turned to the head, seeing its head still snapping his jaw at them.

He put a bolt in its skull to kill it. "Gotta be the brain. Don't y'all know nothin'?" Daryl moved past everyone, avoiding Harper especially, to head to the camp.

"Merle!" He yelled, taking his string of squirrels off his shoulder. Harper ran over to him, stepping in front of him to get his attention. Daryl looked away, trying to side step her.

"Daryl, I need to tell you something. It's important, please," She whispered. Daryl stopped and looked around them, seeing the growing crowd. He did _not _have a good feeling about this. Harper gently grabbed his wrist and pulled him over to the RV, slightly out of the way of everyone else.

"Daryl, Merle volunteered with a group to go on a run to Atlanta and something happened to him." Daryl jerked, wanting to turn to the group, but Harper grabbed his arms and made him face her. "He's alive, Daryl. Listen to me. He was being a danger to the group, shooting his gun into all the walkers and getting them riled up. The group handcuffed him to the roof, but they lost the keys and had to leave him behind. They locked the door to keep any walkers from getting to him," Harper trailed off, feeling Daryl's body shaking under her hands.

Daryl pulled away from Harper's hands and walked away from the RV a bit, wiping his face with both hands.

"I need ta process this. Yer sayin' they handcuffed my brother ta the roof and they left him there?" He yelled, facing the others.

"Daryl-"

"Yeah, we did."

"Who're you?" Daryl snapped, facing Rick who stepped forward.

"Rick Grimes. I had to stop your brother from getting us all killed." Harper saw how tense Daryl's body was, like he was about to strike. She ran over to him and stood between him and Rick.

"Daryl, don't. This isn't going to help get Merle back." Daryl's eyes flashed down to hers before looking back up at Rick. He clenched his teeth and turned away to spit on the ground.

"Hell with all y'all," Daryl yelled over Harper's head. "I'm goin' ta get him." Daryl threw the squirrels to the side as Rick told him he was going back to get Merle with him and something about a bag of guns. Harper was more focused on making sure Daryl was okay. T-Dog and Glenn volunteered with a few others, but Daryl wasn't paying much attention to them. He was too busy getting his stuff together to leave.

Harper sat down next to Daryl and watched him count his bolts.

"I want to come with you."

"No."

"Why not? Daryl, I can hold my own out there. I can help get Merle back." Daryl was going to say something, but Shane showed his face again at the worst possible time.

"I already told you you're not leaving the camp, Harper!" Shane stopped what he was doing by the truck to address her. Luckily the only people around were her and Daryl, and Rick and Shane.

"Hey, watch what ya fuckin' say ta her," Daryl snapped, standing to face Shane.

"What're you gonna do, Daryl. Smack me with one of your arrows?" Shane taunted. Harper jumped between the two and shoved them apart, Rick standing just beside her in case he was needed.

"What the hell is your problem, Shane? If they find Merle, I can help them. He's probably going to be dehydrated and delirious from being in the sun for so long. What if he goes into hypovolemic shock out there?" Harper questioned.

"We're not risking our one medic for the life of a hick who was too busy getting high to think about the safety of the group!" Harper's mouth clicked shut.

"You're not going to keep me chained to the camp, Shane."

"Shane, let's all keep a level head here. Harper, why don't you tell us what we need to take incase Merle does need medical attention? That way we can be prepared. But I also think that it's a good idea for you to stay here in case they need you," Rick mediated.

Harper wanted to fight Rick too, but she felt a firm hand on her elbow and saw Daryl looking down at her. She looked into his eyes and for a minute felt like they were able to communicate without speaking, all the tension from their fight at the quarry gone. She took a deep breath and backed down.

"I'll get you a list," She told Rick. She heard Shane laugh and look at Daryl.

"Good for you, Man. Keep them barefoot and pregnant so they can't have a say in anything, right?" Harper spun and punched him in the face before she could think about it. Daryl was quick to grab her like Rick grabbed Shane, keeping the two apart.

"Fucking bitch," Shane snarled, his lower lip bleeding.

"You had it coming, Shane. Say something like that again and see what else I'll do to you," Harper threatened. Daryl practically carried Harper away from Shane, Rick shoving the man towards the truck.

"What ya think yer doin'?" Daryl asked firmly, letting her go once they were further away.

"He's been picking at me since this whole thing started. I'm sick of letting him get away with all his comments towards me," Harper snapped. Daryl frowned and glanced back at Shane. Rick was grilling him.

"Pick yer battles, Princess." Harper went to snap at him again for the poor nickname, but she saw his lips twitch at her reaction. He didn't seem upset with her anymore, and she was relieved. Harper sighed and looked away, letting herself calm back down.

"I hate being stuck in this camp." Daryl hummed in agreement and shoved his hands in his pockets. Seeing that she wasn't going to get a verbal response, Harper shoved one of his shoulders.

"Keep your head out there. If you don't come back, I'm going to commit murder," Harper warned, nodding towards Shane. Daryl huffed a laugh.

"I don't think that'd be a bad thing."

"Harper, I'm sorry for what Shane said to you. It was out of line," Rick told her, walking over to the pair. Harper nodded and crossed her arms.

"I don't know you, Rick, but I hope you're nothing like him. He may have been your partner before shit hit the fan, but things have changed now. Watch your back," She warned. Harper squeezed Daryl's arm one last time and walked away from the men to head back to the others.

* * *

**Note: Sorry for the delay! I was trying to update faster, but I ended up picking up extra shifts at the hospital. Girl's gotta make a living! Please leave a review and let me know what you think. Also, I'm sorry if you message me and it takes forever to get a reply. I'm absolutely terrible at replying or even checking my messages. You will eventually get a reply! Love you all!**

**~LL**


	4. Chapter 4

**The Places We Hide**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**Pairing: Daryl x OC**

**Rating: M**

**Location: The Quarry/On The Road**

* * *

After the group left to get Merle back, the entire camp was tense. Shane looked like he would punch the next person that talked to him so everyone was giving him a wide berth. It didn't help that Harper had bust his lip open and Lori was giving him the cold shoulder. Harper didn't think anyone else realized how close the two had gotten besides her and maybe Daryl so the camp was confused about Shane's recent attitude change.

Harper decided to leave the man alone and not work him up anymore than she did earlier. His split lip still looked red and angry.

"Harper! Carl said you fixed his knees when he fell down! Can you teach us how to take care of ourselves too?" Sophia asked, bounding over to her with Carl in tow.

"Well what exactly do you guys want to know?" Harper asked with a small smile gracing her lips. It amazed her that even when the world was turned upside down kids still found reasons to be happy.

"What do we do if we cut ourselves?" Sophia asked, sitting on the ground in front of Harper. Carl followed her lead, giving her his full attention. She noticed from the corner of her eyes that a few of the adults also stopped to listen.

"Well first you would need to see how bad it's bleeding. If it's a deep cut, you need to apply pressure with anything clean like a towel or a shirt. You should really try to use a bandage, but those are hard for us to find now. Once the bleeding is slowed down, you need to clean it. Don't pour just any water over it. Even if it looks clean, you need to use water that's been boiled and is safe for drinking."

"Why? The quarry water is safe for us to use," Sophia told her.

"We still boil that water. There a germs that are so small, we can't see them. And if you pour that water over your cut, you're letting all those germs in." Sophia nodded and let her continue.

"Most of the time, cuts are small enough that we can just wrap them up to let them heal. Some need stitches, like Morales' hand did. You need a needle to do that and an adult to help you."

"You're so smart, Harper. I want to help people like you do." Harper leaned forward and ruffled Sophia's short hair.

"I can teach you, Sweetie. Just come with me next time someone needs help."

"Sophia," Carol called from the edge of her smaller camping area. She had her arms crossed and a worried expression on her face. Ed grumbled something behind her, but Harper couldn't make out what it was. Sophia frowned and got up to go back over to her mom. Harper felt bad, but she wasn't going to get involved in their family issues. Not unless Ed decided to lay a hand on the child.

"What about you, Carl? You gonna be a nurse in the making too?"

"Nurses are girls," Carl told her.

"Not always. It's true that many of them are women, but a lot of our ER nurses and ICU nurses were men. We needed some strong guys around to help when things got crazy."

"Really?" Carl asked with big eyes.

"Really!" Carl smiled at her and stayed on the ground next to her feet.

"What's up, Bud?" She asked, sensing that there was something else he wanted to talk about.

"It's just… I'm happy my dad's back, but things feel weird now…"

"Weird how?" Carl just shrugged and looked at his dirty sneakers.

"My mom and Shane aren't talking, and I think my mom is mad because Dad went back to Atlanta. They should be happy we're together again."

"Grown ups are weird, Carl. They're the ones to say that you should talk to someone if you have a problem with them, but half the time they don't follow their own advice. Don't worry about your parents. Your mom is probably just upset because she wanted your dad to be here with y'all instead of leaving so soon."

"Yeah, I didn't want him to leave either," He mumbled.

"Well you're the one that was going on about how cool he is. He doesn't seem like the person to leave people when they need help."

"No, he's always helping people. That's just how he is."

"Then be proud of him and be ready for when he comes back. As for Shane and your mom, I don't know what to tell you. They could have just had a fight; everyone has them. I'm sure they'll be okay later, they just need some time."

"Thanks, Harper," He whispered, eyes falling closed as he leaned his head against her legs. Harper gently brushed his hair away from his face and looked up, seeing Lori watching them. She nodded at Harper, silently thanking her for talking to him.

She wasn't doing it for Lori. Harper wasn't a fan of hers, but Carl was a sweet kid. He needed somebody in his corner when all the drama between his parents and Shane came to light.

Eventually, Lori walked over to them and woke up Carl so he could go to bed. It left Harper feeling lonely. Without Daryl or one of the kids with her, she realized how few people she actually talked to. There was Dale or Glenn on occasion, but no one she was exactly close to.

Tomorrow she decided she would make more of an effort to get to know the people she was living with. If they were going to survive together, might as well befriend more of them.

The first scream came from Ed's tent, but before the camp could react, dozens of walkers came rambling in from the trees. Harper jumped up and unsheathed Daryl's knife. She saw a few campers go down but looked to see where Dale was.

He was standing at the entrance to the RV waving his hand at her to get over there as fast as she could. Harper stabbed a few walkers in her way and saw Shane get Lori and Carl there as well.

"Where's Carol?" She asked the group, scanning the campsite.

"I'm here!" Carol said coming up from the side. "Sophia and I — Sophia? Sophia?!" She screamed looking beside her for the small girl. A high pitched scream drew their attention back to the mass of walkers near the fire. Sophia was dodging the grabbing hands of a lone walker near the tree line.

"Sophia!" Carol went to run to her, but Shane grabbed her around the middle and held her in place.

"We can't Carol; there are too many of them!" Shane yelled over Carol's heart wrenching screams and sobs.

"You fucking coward," Harper seethed and ran down the small incline back into the fray. Knife ready, she came up behind the walker and rammed the blade into the back of its skull. Pulling Sophia back up to her feet, she dodged another walker and slammed the knife into its eye socket.

"Hurry! Get up to the RV," Harper pushed the girl ahead and ran to follow but was stopped short. Gnarly fingers had reached out from the trees and tangled in her blonde hair, keeping her from following after the child.

Harper grunted and tried to swing the knife backwards but kept missing its head. Barely managing to keep its teeth away, she almost cried when she heard the guns and Daryl's voice.

"Harper! Where ya at?!" His deep voice barked through the chaos.

"Daryl! Over here!" She called out, swinging back again, trying to stab the walker in the head. She heard the whiz of the arrow before the sound of it penetrating rotting flesh filled her ears.

The walker dragged Harper down with it, it's fingers still embedded in her long hair. Daryl was there in a second, pulling the body off and freeing her from its clutches. Harper threw her arms around Daryl, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"They were going to leave Sophia to die," She whispered, tucking her face into his neck. Daryl held her against his body and shushed her.

"S' okay now; I gotcha. Ya did good, girl. Real good."

After she calmed down, Harper finally released Daryl, flushing a little from reacting the way she did and attaching herself to him. Daryl looked her over critically.

"Ya bit? Scratched?"

"I don't think so. It just had a hold of my hair. Where's Merle?"

"Sumbitch wasn't there. Cut his own damn hand off ta get off that roof," Daryl said, looking away from Harper's eyes.

"I knew he was too stubborn to die out there. He'll find his way back to you." Daryl nodded and gestured towards the RV. They slowly walked over to the others and it didn't take long for Carol and Sophia to attack her.

"Thank you for saving my baby," Carol cried. Sophia wasn't much better, sobbing into Harper's stomach.

"It's okay, Carol. We have to look out for each other now," She told her softly. They let go of Harper and nodded. She ruffled Sophia's hair again and met Shane's hard eyes.

"Look-" He started.

"No, you don't get to speak to me. Not after that. You're true colors are out now, you can't hide them anymore."

"What's going on?" Rick asked, cluelessly, but they both ignored him.

"I wasn't going to risk the lives of the others!"

"It was one walker and a child. You had a gun. Don't give me that bullshit."

"I told you not to talk to me like that!" Shane snapped, grabbing her arm and yanking her closer to him. Things happened quickly after that. Daryl's bow was pointed at Shane's head and Harper had her knife at his throat.

"Woah! Everybody calm down!" Rick yelled, but no one moved.

"I told you next time you put your hands on me, I would kill you. Let go of me, Shane," Harper growled, seeing Rick's jaw drop at her words. Shane snarled and shoved her arm away. Harper stepped back, moving closer to Daryl.

"We're done here, Shane. Don't come near me again." Harper spun on her heel and left. She heard footsteps behind her and expected to see Daryl, but when she turned around it was Rick coming after her.

"Harper, what just happened? What's going on with you two?"

"Rick, I can't complain to you about him. He was your partner," Harper groaned, moving closer to her tent.

"I don't care if he was my partner. I want to know what's going on."

"Look, we haven't gotten along since the beginning, but things have escalated recently. He doesn't like it when I tell him what I think of him. He grabbed me before and I warned him not to touch me again, but he obviously didn't care. I also told him that his true colors would come out, and he would save himself. That's what he did tonight. He could have saved Sophia or even let Carol go after her, but he didn't do either. He was going to let that little girl die in front of her mother."

"Harper, I didn't know about any of this," Rick told her sadly.

"Of course you didn't, Rick. You just got here. But that's why I told you to be careful. I don't know what Shane was like before, but right now, he's acting like a wolf in sheep's clothing. I don't trust him. I want to stay with the group, but I can't be around him anymore."

"I don't blame you for feeling this way. I'll talk to Shane and see if I can get him to back off." Harper nodded and closed herself inside of her tent. She just got settled and grabbed her book to blow off some steam when she heard footsteps outside her tent.

The person hesitated before finally speaking up. "Ya okay in there, Princess?" Harper snorted and unzipped the flap to the outside.

"Just peachy. I didn't realize you started making housecalls."

"Don't get used ta it. Trainin' again in the morning," Daryl grunted and walked away. Harper smiled at his retreating back and closed herself back inside the tent. She took a moment to think about what just happened with Shane and realized how fast Daryl was to come to her defense. He was ready to take Shane out to protect her.

True to his word, Daryl woke her up at dawn and led her out into the trees, away from prying eyes. He took the time to show her different swinging motions with the knife and ways to balance herself during an attack.

"Use force and aim for the soft spots. Temple, eyes, under the jaw," Daryl explain as he watched her movements with a critical eye.

Harper got more confident as she moved through the different stances, the weight of the knife in her hand growing more familiar.

"Ain't gonna have guns forever. Ya gotta know how ta use the knife."

"Daryl, how would you have gotten away from the walker that grabbed me last night?" She asked, pausing to take a breath. Daryl was quiet for a moment, thinking about last night and seeing Harper almost die a few yards away from him. He cleared his throat and looked at the trees behind Harper instead of at her.

"Woulda swung back with ma left elbow ta break the hold and followed with the knife in ma right hand." Harper tried to picture it in her head and nodded. She had just panicked and kept trying to swing backwards with the blade without getting bitten.

"Cain't let yer guard down anymore. Dead or alive," Daryl told her.

"Shane made that pretty obvious last night," Harper grumbled, thinking about the last time Daryl warned her against other living people.

"E'ery man for himself now." Daryl decided to leave after that, deeming her competent enough in knife handling to survive a while longer. Harper walked back to the camp and saw everyone doing damage control. A lot of people were packing up supplies and others were figuring out what to do with the bodies.

She saw Glenn building a fire near the edge of their clearing so she walked over to him to help. They gathered more wood and threw it into the fire to build it up.

"Are we burning the walkers?"

"Yeah, no telling if their bodies will infect the soil. And they reek," Glenn grumbled, eyeing one not too far away. Harper helped Glenn lift the body and swing it into the flames, the smell of burning flesh filling the air. Harper wrinkled her nose and moved back a few feet.

Looking around the camp, she saw Daryl and Morales sliding their knives into the skulls of the fallen to make sure they didn't reanimate later. Rick and Shane were arguing near their tents, Lori interjecting every now and then. Carl and Sophia were sitting at one of the outdoor tables near the central campfire. Tents were being packed up all around her.

Eyes sliding closer to the RV, she finally saw the two sisters. Harper stayed far away from Andrea and let her mourn over her loss of Amy. They may not have gotten along, but the woman just lost her baby sister. That and she saw how she reacted to Rick getting too close and decided it was better to give her room.

"There're so many," Harper mumbled to Glenn, looking up from the burning pile of walker bodies to those of their dead campers. They hadn't lost any children, but there were at least half a dozen adults that didn't make it.

"This never should have happened," Glenn's voice broke, following her line of sight.

"Glenn, don't do that. You and the guys got back as fast as you could. There was no way you could have known they were coming even if you were here." Glenn nodded and frowned when he saw Daryl and Morales dragging one of their own over to the fire.

"What're you doing? Ours go over there!"

"What does it matter? They're all infected now!" Daryl snapped.

"They were someone to us! We don't burn them. We bury them!" Glenn yelled, emotions bubbling under the surface. Harper squeezed his shoulder and picked up a shovel.

"Let's give them a proper burial then," She spoke softly and looked at both men. Daryl grunted and moved the body with Morales' help to the other side of the clearing. Harper heard him grumbling under his breath about the camp and them leaving his brother.

"Hey, come give me a hand." Daryl's eyes snapped back to her like he was about to go off on her too, but he took a deep breath and snatched the extra shovel from her hand. They walked away from the group and out to where Jim had been digging a few days ago before he suffered from his heat stroke.

Harper had been creeped out when they first saw him digging graves, but it was almost like he knew that this would happen. They only needed to dig a few of them deeper.

"I heard Rick talking to Shane about leaving the quarry," Harper broke their silence once it was just the two of them digging.

"Too close ta the city. Walkers startin' ta move out. Lookin' for food." They dug in silence for a few more minutes.

"Are we going with them?" Daryl paused and looked up at her from his hole. If he was surprised about her asking if they were going to head off on their own, he didn't show it.

"Better ta stick with the numbers. For now." Harper nodded again and continued to scoop dirt out of the grave. Deeming the holes deep enough, Daryl tossed his shovel aside and held a hand out to Harper to pull her up and out of hers.

"Better go figure out what the plan is."

* * *

"We have two options. We can go to the CDC or Fort Benning. We'll take a vote and go where the majority wants to. If you don't want to come with us, you can go your own way if you choose to," Rick explained to everyone. They'd just finished burying their dead, among them were Ed, Amy and Jim. Everyone seemed ready to move on from the quarry.

"If there's anyone at the CDC, we could get some insight into what's happened," Harper added. Rick nodded in her direction.

"Fort Benning has the military and supplies. We'll be safe with them," Shane told everyone.

"The military are the ones that bombed the city. How can we be sure that they would be friendly with strangers walking up to their basecamp; if they're even still there?" Dale asked, the always present Devil's advocate. Several campers were whispering amongst themselves until Rick called for the vote.

Harper and Daryl voted with the majority to try the CDC first and go from there. Most of the camp had already packed their things; they just needed to load up their vehicles and plan the route. Daryl was silent as he packed Merle's stuff up and loaded the motorcycle into the bed of his truck.

"Merle's okay out there. Remember, he's too stubborn to die," Harper said lightly, trying to perk him up.

"Toughest sumbitch I know," Daryl mumbled with a short nod and looked around the empty campsite.

"If he's anywhere close to as good of a tracker as you are, he'll find us." Daryl looked at her for a second before dipping his chin and grabbing her tent to throw it in his truck with his stuff. They didn't talk about what car she was riding in, they communicated silently, a habit they were starting to do more often together.

"We'll be okay too," Daryl told her softly.

"Survive long enough to live again," Harper agreed with a small smile.

Rick called everyone back together and told them it was time to head out. A few families decided to part ways, and Harper was sad to see Morales' family was one of them. She climbed into Daryl's truck feeling a little more depressed than before.

After a few minutes of silent driving, Daryl had enough. "What's wrong now?" He asked, never taking his eyes off the road. Harper sighed and watched the trees pass by outside the window.

"I'm just worried about the people that didn't come with us."

"S'their fault if walkers get 'em," Daryl's voice was soft but irritated. Harper knew he didn't like that the group split up either. Rough as he was, she knew he worried about the others more than he let on, especially the children in the camp.

"I hope they don't… What do you think of Rick?" She asked, wanting to get off the subject.

"Don't know yet. If he's like Shane, we're gonna have a problem."

"I think he's more sincere than Shane and wants the best for us. At least for now. No telling what will happen later. He could be another Shane in disguise."

"If Shane gets handsy again, they're gonna find 'im dead inna ditch," Daryl growled, fists tightening on the steering wheel.

"I'll be right there helping toss his body in," Harper told him, morbidly. "I wonder if there's anybody actually at the CDC."

"Won't know 'til we get there."

Harper settled back into the bench seat and looked out the window again. It wasn't until she noticed that trees were passing by slower that she realized Daryl was beginning to stop the truck. Looking forward, the entire caravan was coming to a stop behind Dale's RV, smoke billowing out from under the hood.

Harper got out with the others and joined Dale by the smoking engine.

"I told everyone the hose was bad. We need to find another one or this thing won't be going anywhere. If Jim were still here, he'd be able to help me out," Dale mumbled the last bit sadly. Harper reached out and squeezed his shoulder silently.

Everyone began looking for a replacement part in the nearby cars while Shane drove ahead to a gas station to look for supplies.

"I know nothing about cars," Harper grumbled and shoved a hood up. "Give me a seizing patient or someone having a heart attack and I can handle that. Ask me to find a hose for something or other in a car, and I have no idea what I'm doing."

Daryl snorted and rooted around under the hood, looking for anything that could work.

"What? You do? Are you some kind of mechanic guru we don't know about?" Harper questioned, leaning against the driver's side door. Daryl popped back up with a hose in hand.

"I ain't clueless, Princess."

"Oh come on! I know how to change a flat and check my oil. I'm not clueless, Dixon!" She called after him as they walked back to Dale.

"This good?" Daryl asked, handing Dale what he found.

"It's a little small, but I have some dutch tape. We could make it work until we find something better. This won't last forever." Harper watched Dale lean into the RV and try to rig the hose to fit where the old one used to be.

When Shane returned, he had a few cans of siphoned gas to refuel the cars with. He'd also found a few energy bars that he passed around. Harper was careful not to make eye contact with him, wanting to keep the peace while they were on the road.

Harper got one and crawled back into the truck with Daryl. She broke the bar in half and gave on side to Daryl so he could munch on it while he drove. It didn't take long for everyone to get back on the road in their single line formation.

The drive was quiet again until they finally saw signs for the CDC up ahead. Harper perked up and leaned forward in her seat.

"I guess this is the moment of truth, huh?" She whispered and opened the door once they stopped. Grabbing a couple of their bags just in case but leaving the majority of their things in the truck, the two followed after the others, weaving through the undead bodies to get to the front entrance of the large building.

It looked like the military had tried to protect the building and failed. No telling if Fort Benning was still standing or not. A few walkers were noticing them and started to head their way, snapping their jaws and snarling.

Harper kept looking over her shoulder while Rick banged and yelled at the door. The walkers were starting to close in on them, and Daryl was beginning to react.

"We gotta go!" He yelled at the group, taking out the closest walker to them. Grabbing Harper's arm, he shoved her more behind him to shield her from the oncoming bodies.

"You're killing us!" Rick screamed again and finally began to step back so they could make a run to the cars. Daryl had already grabbed Harper again to drag her to the truck when the front doors opened and blinded them all with white light.

* * *

**Note: Yes. I ended this chapter just like the episode because I loved it. Sorry for the wait! Enjoy! I already have the next few chapters basically written out, but I'm still changing the details around so it may still be a little bit of a wait before they get posted.**

**Thank you all for reading! Leave a review and let me know what you think.**

**~LL**


	5. Chapter 5

**The Places We Hide**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**Pairing: Daryl x OC**

**Rating: M**

**Location: The CDC**

* * *

Harper stayed close to Daryl in the elevator ride down to a lower level of the CDC. Jenner was explaining what happened to the rest of his coworkers and how desolate different outcomes were looking.

When the doors opened, the group was blinded by another bright light that lit up what looked like a doctor's office. Jenner ushered them all in and went to open different cabinets to gather supplies.

"I hope you all understand, but I need to draw your blood and make sure everyone is healthy. I can't take any chances."

"Of course." Rick moved forward and offered his arm to Jenner.

"I can help; I'm a nurse." Jenner glanced up at Harper and nodded to the supplies and another stool she could sit on. Daryl threw his crossbow over his shoulder and plopped down in the chair in front of Harper.

"Don't mess up," He grumbled and looked away when Harper tied a tourniquet above his elbow.

"Seriously Daryl? You have tattoos; I'm surprised a little needle like this can make you queasy," She teased. Daryl tsked and bit the thumb nail of his free hand.

"Tattoos don't feel nothin' like this," He griped as Harper cleaned his skin off with the alcohol.

"That I will agree with," Harper mumbled, focusing on piercing Daryl's vein with the butterfly needle.

"Hm, ya got some ink on ya, Princess?" Daryl asked, squinting his eyes like he was trying to figure out where it would be.

"Maybe," was all Harper said as she released the tourniquet and held pressure with some gauze. "Up," She told him so the next person could sit. Between the two of them, Jenner and Harper were able to get the through group within ten minutes.

"Everyone wait here while I check these." Jenner went through another door with the basket of labeled tubes. One by one, the survivors started to slide down the wall so they could sit on the cool ground.

"How long will it take for him to test our blood?" Lori asked Harper.

"Those were just CBC's so probably 30 minutes give or take."

"CBC?" T-Dog asked.

"It's just a blood count. It can check your white blood cells to see if you have an infection." T-Dog nodded and leaned back to close his eyes and rest.

"This is good. We have a place where we can rest; none of those walkers are getting in here. After we find something to eat, we can ask Jenner more about what's going on," Rick told the group. Harper looked around for Shane; he'd been oddly silent since they arrived. His face was impassive; no telling what he was thinking with Rick starting to act as their new leader.

"Quit yer eyein'," Daryl mumbled making Harper laugh softly.

"What? You gonna get jealous?"

"Nah. Just don't need more fightin' between the two of ya right now." Harper rolled her eyes but knew he was right and kept to herself. Daryl leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, finally resting.

When Jenner came back, he was pleased with everyone's results and led them further into the building. Specifically, he led them to the kitchen where he was making spaghetti before he let them all in. Everyone settled around the table and seemed to forget what was happening outside when Jenner broke out his stash of wine.

Harper sipped on the merlot in her glass, not a huge fan of it, and smiled when Carl cringed after taking a sip from his mom's cup. Daryl was teasing Glenn about getting him drunk and T-Dog's loud laugh was filling the room along with several of the others. Harper glanced over at a very quiet Jenner and made eye contact with Rick. Rick seemed to read her mind and stood up, giving a quick toast and thanks to the scientist for hosting them.

But of course, Shane had to go and put his two cents in. Daryl settled into the seat next to Harper once Shane started running his mouth. She didn't know if it was to prevent her from saying something to Shane or because he was uncomfortable standing with the room getting so quiet. The bottle of whiskey he was nursing sat on the table next to her wine, and she noticed how his body was suddenly very still as he listened to the men.

"There was a rash of suicides…" Harper looked back at Jenner as he answered Shane and frowned. She felt bad, but she understood where these people were coming from. She abandoned her post at the hospital, especially once the military arrived. She had a duty to serve the public, and she ran out on them. She became a nurse because she wanted to help those that weren't able to help themselves, but she couldn't do it in the end.

When she first started her nursing career, she remembered how the hospital made her attend a week long orientation. One of the days had the police there to teach the staff what to do if there was an active shooter or someone in the building trying to hurt everyone.

They told her that if it came down to it, her life came before her patients. It was a hard pill for her to swallow. She always thought that if she was put in that kind of situation; she'd save a few people with her, but when she actually faced the possibility of being gunned down, by the military no less, she chose her life over others. The scientists that ran or those that ended their lives acted like Harper did.

Mood suddenly somber, Harper pushed her wine further away and tried to look discreetly over to Daryl, but he was making sure not to look anywhere but the table top.

The rest of the meal was uncomfortable, but luckily Shane didn't say another word.

* * *

Harper stepped out of the shower and headed to the duffle bag she set on her cot. She unzipped it and frowned when she saw sleeveless flannels instead of her t-shirts. She and Daryl must have swap their bags. Glenn had grabbed some heavy duty bags on one of his runs and several of their group members now carried similar bags.

Sighing, Harper debated just wearing his clothes to bed, but she didn't have any underwear and didn't have anything to change into when she woke up. Tucking her towel tighter around her chest, she grabbed his bag and walked to the next door over and knocked loudly.

No answer.

She knocked again. "Daryl! Open up. You have my bag," She called through the door. Harper heard his heavy footfalls before the door opened and revealed a very drunk Daryl leaning against the doorframe for support.

"Woah, big guy. Like you some Southern Comfort, huh?" She joked. Daryl attempted a grin and almost fell forward, his balance clearly being affected by the amount of whiskey he'd consumed. Harper looked at the bottle still in his hand and saw how empty it actually was. She was surprised Daryl was still standing up at this point.

Moving past him so she could walk inside, Harper tossed his bag on his cot and saw hers sitting on a table against another wall. She walked over to it so she could grab it and leave, but Daryl came up behind her, his body heat suddenly close to her somewhat exposed back.

Harper turned and was face to face with his neck. She took a step back and looked up at him.

"You okay, Daryl? You need to go lay down."

"Why ya tryna be ma frien', Princess?" His southern drawl was so thick due to his drunken state that Harper almost had to ask him to say it again. A shiver ran up her body though when she heard his deep voice sound huskier than usual.

"Okay, you've definitely had enough of that." She took the bottle with little fight on his part and set it next to her bag on the table. Seeing that he was still waiting for an answer, Harper gave in.

"I like you, Daryl. You're not like the rest of the group."

"Cause I's a hick?" He asked, swaying slightly before rebalancing himself. Harper rested a hand on his arm to make sure he didn't drop to the floor without warning.

"No, Daryl. You're a survivor, and I admire that. I need some of you to rub off on me," She told him lightly. Daryl had a serious look on his face that made Harper worry about what was going on in that confusing head of his.

"Never had no frien's that were girls," He grumbled.

"Well, there's a first time for everything, isn't there?"

He quickly looked down at her lips and narrowed his eyes. He seemed to be thinking awfully hard about something; he looked up at Harper's eyes and back down again, focusing on her lips. Seeing him lean in, Harper forced herself to stop him from getting any closer, even though she really didn't want to, placing a hand on his chest gently.

"You can't kiss me, Daryl," She whispered. He looked so confused, the alcohol making him much easier to read than usual.

"Thought ya liked me," He grumbled.

"I do like you, Daryl. But if you kiss me right now, you'll be mad at yourself in the morning. That doesn't mean I don't want you to, just not now." Harper wished so much that he was sober right now, but none of this would be happening if he was. Daryl had grown on her, and she was sure some kind of feelings were trying to bud, but she didn't think much would come out of it. Not with Daryl's aversion to affection or other people in general.

Daryl grunted and moved back, causing Harper's hand to fall away from him. He mumbled something she didn't catch and stumbled into the connected bathroom and shut the door behind him. He probably wouldn't even remember their encounter in the morning.

Frowning, Harper quickly pulled clothes out of her bag and threw them on so she didn't have to walk back through the hall in just a towel. She heard the water in the shower turn on and guessed Daryl was done with their conversation.

Harper grabbed her bag and walked back out of Daryl's room.

"Gettin' a quick fuck in?"

"You have got to be shitting me," Harper hissed and dropped her bag to face Shane who looked just as drunk as Daryl was. "What do you want?"

Shane pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on and got too close for comfort to Harper.

"What I want is for you to stop being such a bitch to me," He growled.

"Get back, Shane." Harper was in no mood to deal with him right now. Not with him being drunk and her still trying to figure out if what just happened with Daryl would affect their friendship in the morning.

"You're not seeming to understand this. I'm tired of you causing problems for everyone."

"Causing problems?!" Harper couldn't help the look of frustration that covered her face. "I'm not causing problems for anyone. You just don't like that I don't do whatever you tell me to. I don't bend over backwards to make you happy and it pisses you off. That's not gonna change, Shane. You don't seem to _understand _that."

Shane reached out to grab her arm, his signature move, but Harper was quick to side step him and shove him away from her.

"Don't touch me," She snapped, looking at him closely now and seeing the scratches on his neck. "Seems like someone else doesn't want you touching them anymore either. Lori toss you aside now that her husband is alive?" Harper couldn't help being vindictive, not with Shane repeatedly trying to get his hands on her.

"You better shut the fuck up."

"Hey! What's going on?" Rick came jogging down the hall when he saw the two of them at each other's throats. He didn't need a repeat of what happened before they left the quarry.

"Nothing. Shane was about to go lick his wounds in his room," Harper said, not taking her eyes off him. Shane's lip curled up, but he didn't do anything else with Rick standing right there. He glared at her one more time before shoving past Rick to go back to his room.

"What was that?" Rick asked, watching Shane's retreating back. Harper flicked her wet hair over her shoulder and crossed her arms.

"It's nothing new, Rick. You missed a lot while you were separated from your family."

"It was only a few weeks," Rick mumbled, meeting her eyes once more.

"The world changed forever in those weeks, including the people in it. I don't know how Shane was before, but he's been aggressive towards me from the beginning. I know I don't help the situation with my attitude towards him, but that doesn't change the fact that he shouldn't get physical with me."

"Shane's always had a temper problem, but I've never seen him act the way he does around you." Harper relaxed her stance, seeing that Rick wasn't trying to defend his friend.

"I know you guys were close before all this, but I would watch my back if I were you. Something doesn't seem to be all there with him, and I don't want you getting hurt. I can tell that you want the best for the group," She trailed off. Rick moved and leaned against the wall next to her.

"I didn't mean to come in and try to take charge; I guess that's just who I am. But I have no idea what I'm doing. I feel like if I make one wrong decision, someone will die."

"That's a real possibility; I'm not going to sugar coat it for you. But I feel out of everyone in the group, you can fill the role. Shane tried but he didn't value everyone equally. He wouldn't care if Daryl or I ever made it this far."

The hallway was quiet, but they didn't move from the wall.

"We can't stay here," Harper finally said. Rick rubbed his chin and nodded. "There' no one left here to do the research. Jenner is just one person, and I don't have the right kind of education to do anything to help him. We'll run out of food; we're too close to the city."

"Yeah. That's been runnin' through my head. We'll figure out a plan in the morning. Get some rest." Rick squeezed her bicep gently and walked down the hall to his room with his family. Harper picked her bag up and closed her door behind her.

* * *

"Oh my God," Harper mumbled, watching the video of TS-19 playing in the main room. Watching the brainstem come back terrified her. She understood that the person didn't come back, but the thought of her body roaming around because the virus reignited her instincts disturbed her.

Jacqui jumped when the bullet killed TS-19, and the group started hounding Jenner once he turned it off. Harper looked up and met Daryl's eyes; his thumb nail caught in his teeth. She walked over to him, not having spoken since his drunken episode the previous night. He made a point to steer clear of her during their quick breakfast which only led her to assume that he remembered last night.

"I'm scared," Harper whispered, catching his attention. He gently bumped his hip against hers in silent comforting, internally deciding to push his awkwardness aside for now. Smiling softly, she looked up to listen in on the group again.

"What happens when the clock reaches zero?" Dale had asked, pointing to the countdown up on the wall. It was almost at thirty minutes.

"The generators run out of fuel." So much was happening at once, Harper didn't know who to listen to. Vi mentioned decontamination, and her heart sank.

"Jenner, there are a lot of bad bugs in here," Harper said, silencing the room. Jenner looked at her from where he was standing behind one of desks. "Bugs that could go back into the world if they were no longer sealed up by a running facility. What kind of decontamination does Vi mean?" Jenner remained silent, confirming all of Harper's fears.

"Rick, we need to get out of here!" She yelled, turning to him. He nodded and started urging everyone to the door. Above them, the lights shut off and an alarm started blaring.

"Daryl, c'mon!" She grabbed his hand and started to drag him behind her, but before anyone could make it to the door, a large steel wall dropped in front of it, blocking anyone from getting out.

"No… no no no," Harper, looking for any other exit, but there weren't any.

"Did you just lock us in?" Glenn cried, his voice breaking in his panic. Daryl started saying something, moving towards Jenner like an angry bull, but Harper grabbed his arm again.

"He won't be able to open it back up if you do something to him." Daryl pulled his arm out of her hold and stalked over to Jenner with Rick in tow. Harper stayed where she was, listening to everyone yelling. She slowly slid down the steel wall and closed her eyes. This isn't how she thought it would end.

Vi began explaining what would happen with the decontamination, and Harper's throat closed up. She wasn't ready to die yet; she planned on surviving as long as she could. Hell, she hadn't even gotten the chance to see if any of her family was still out there. If they were, they would never know what happened to her. The blast would ensure that there was nothing left to find.

Shane screaming made her jerk her head up. He shot several rounds of a shotgun into nearby computers before Rick was able to get it away from him. The room was quiet again; Daryl slowly walked back to Harper and slid down next to her, defeated. Nothing was getting through these doors, not unless Jenner opened them back up. He let his shoulder graze hers.

Harper looked up and saw how hard Daryl's eyes were. They were focused on Rick and Jenner, but she caught glimpses of something else flashing in them. She couldn't place the emotion, but she knew he wasn't ready to die yet either. Slowly, she let her fingers barely graze his on the ground, his just barely twitching in response to her touch, her comfort.

Rick tried talking Jenner down. "You wouldn't have stayed and taken the hard road. You could have left with everyone else."

"I didn't stay because I wanted to. I made a promise. To her. My wife." Harper let her head drop again. Now they were dealing with a depressed scientist who thought that everyone should die with him.

"All we want is a choice. A chance." Harper took a few deep breaths, trying to relax her body for what was about to come. If Jenner was right, hopefully she wouldn't feel the fire.

"Girl, get up. Get up!" Daryl jumped to his feet, pulling Harper up when he saw Jenner walk back to the badge scanner. He typed in a code and the steel wall lowered back down. Still frozen in disbelief, Harper let Daryl drag her behind him. After stumbling a few times, she managed to get her feet under her and start running with him, trying to get back upstairs as quickly as possible.

Running up the stairs to the lobby, they saw the doors still locked that led outside. Daryl immediately took an axe and started striking one of the windows, Shane joining in next to him. Harper looked around for anything else to use and quickly moved out of T-Dog's way as he ran by with a chair.

"The glass is too thick," Harper mumbled, standing next to Carol and Sophia. Carol quickly grabbed her backpack and ran over to Rick, rambling about finding something in his uniform. Seeing the grenade in her hand, Harper backed up to take cover behind a smaller set of stairs.

Rick ran to the window and pulled the tab, letting the grenade drop from his hand. Harper felt Daryl jump down beside her, shielding her body mostly with his to protect her in case there was any debris. It must have been an unconscious move on his part, but it stunned Harper for a few seconds until Daryl grabbed her again to get her moving.

Dear God. They'd made it outside.

Harper kept her emotions in check and grabbed Daryl's knife from her belt to kill a walker that got too close. They must have heard the explosion from the grenade and come to investigate. Daryl used the axe to take down a few more as they made a beeline for their vehicles.

It was once they were outside that Harper realized they were missing a few of their own.

"Daryl! Where's Dale?!" She asked once they reached his truck. Daryl whipped his head around, looking for the elderly man, but not seeing him anywhere.

"He stayed behind with Andrea and Jacqui," T-Dog said, taking cover behind Shane's Jeep.

"No. We can't leave him!" Harper went to run back, but Daryl stopped her, wrapping an arm around her stomach.

"Girl, ya know that ain't smart. No way yer gonna make it down 'n back with him 'fore the whole place is up in smoke," Daryl spoke softly but sternly in her ear. She grabbed his arm around her but didn't push him away. She knew he was right, but her heart was breaking. Dale was the closest to her besides Daryl and maybe Glenn. He had saved her when he got her off that highway.

Tears began to well in her eyes, her brain already deciding to mourn him.

"It's them!" Sophia yelled from Carol's arms. Rubbing her eyes, Harper cleared her vision and saw the rest of their group stumbling out of the broken window and across the lawn towards them as quickly as they could.

Daryl let go of Harper and opened the door to the truck. "Get in! C'mon!" Harper smiled and quickly jumped inside, sliding over so Daryl could get in behind her.

"Dale! Get down!" Lori screamed from the RV. Dale, Andrea, and Jacqui dropped to the ground behind one of the row of military grade sandbags just as the CDC exploded. Daryl pushed Harper down on the bench seat and covered her body with his as the whole truck shook with the force of the explosion.

When he finally let her up, they saw the trio hobbling into the RV. Harper let out a choked back sob, finally feeling all her emotions bubbling to the surface. She almost died, Daryl almost died, she thought Dale died, but her people were alive. She was alive.

Daryl looked at her, alarmed by the noise she made and the sudden tears running down her cheeks. Not caring if he didn't want physical touch or still felt weird about their encounter the night before, Harper lunged towards him and threw her arms around his neck, crying into the collar of his shirt.

Daryl sat there and took it. He slowly raised one hand to pat her shoulder, not sure what he was actually supposed to be doing. But the action made Harper laugh and she pulled away, wiping her face and settling back into her seat.

He eyed her a few more times before starting the truck and shifting it into drive to follow the caravan back out onto the road.

* * *

**Note: **

**This chapter was choppy. I didn't want them to go to the CDC, but I feel like it's important for them to know what's going on virus wise. But I left it almost identical to the episode just with some added drama. The next chapters will be better lol**

**Also is anyone who is caught up to the most current season aware of how different Daryl is from when this first started? His character is much more mature now and soft spoken, whereas in the beginning he was so loud and brash. I didn't realize how much has changed until I started rewatching the series again from the beginning. I definitely like the Daryl in later seasons better so I'm sticking with that for my characterization.**

**I loved reading everyone's responses to the last chapter. Huge shoutout to Beachgirl25 for inspiring me to a change a few things I had planned. I can't wait for everyone to read what I have planned next!**

**~LL**


	6. Chapter 6

**The Places We Hide**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

**Pairing: Daryl x OC**

**Rating: M**

**Location: On the Road**

* * *

"Are we going to talk about what happened back there?" Harper had waited almost half an hour before she decided to bring it up. The caravan had stopped a little ways away from the CDC to decide on a new plan. They decided to give Shane's idea a try and were now going south of Atlanta to see if Fort Benning was still standing.

"Which part?" Daryl asked, biting his thumb nail, keeping his eyes trained on the station wagon in front of him.

"The part where I went to your room and you were drunk."

Daryl grunted and let his hand fall away from him mouth.

"Nothin' ta talk about."

"Really? Because you were acting really weird at breakfast, and I don't want you stewing about something and it coming between us." Harper crossed her arms and shifted her body in her seat so she was almost facing him.

"I's drunk. Like I said, nothin' ta talk about."

"Fine. I'm not going to make you talk about it. I wasn't mad; I just didn't want you to regret anything once you were sober." Having said her peace, Harper turned back in her seat to face toward. Daryl glanced at her from the corner of his eye and looked like he wanted to say something, but up ahead, the RV started honking and slowing down.

Everyone pulled over and got out to see what was going on.

"I don't think we're going to make it to Fort Benning with all the cars we have. It's time to siphon the gas and leave a couple behind. Maybe the truck and Jeep; they aren't as fuel efficient," Rick announced once everyone was gathered.

Harper saw Daryl shrug and nod. "I can ride Merle's bike." Harper felt a pang in her chest; he was putting distance between them now. She thought about riding with the others and it just didn't feel right to her.

"I can leave the Jeep behind. There's maybe half a tank in it we can take," Shane offered, giving Rick a quick smile. Slimy bastard.

While some of the guys got to siphoning gas from the cars they were leaving and from a few that were littered around, Harper grabbed her things from the truck and hauled them to the RV.

"Need a hand?" Dale popped up next to her and grabbed one of the bags.

"I'm pretty mad at you now that I've gotten over almost losing you," Harper said, voice soft so no one would overhear her.

"I'm sorry, Harper, but I couldn't leave them, especially Andrea behind. She was grieving and making a decision when her head wasn't level."

"So you were going to die with her then?" Harper asked, tossing her things inside and facing Dale again.

"I was hoping it wouldn't come to that and it didn't," Dale said in a calm voice.

"But it could have. And then I would have been left here without you." Her words were coming out like word vomit, this being the first time they've been able to talk to each other since leaving the CDC.

"You're strong, Harper. You'll survive long after I'm gone, and you have Daryl with you. Andrea doesn't have anyone else now," Dale mumbled, "I see you girls like my own. I only want to see you succeed out here."

Harper huffed but knew she couldn't stay mad at him. What he said was true, but looking over at Daryl, she didn't know exactly where they stood with each other. Dale noticed where she was looking and sighed.

"Trouble in paradise?" Snapping back to face him, Harper tensed.

"What'd you mean? There's nothing going on between us." Dale held his hands up in surrender.

"I didn't mean anything by it. You two are usually attached at the hip so I'm a little curious why you're not over there with him, talking his ear off." Harper leaned against the RV with a soft sigh.

"Things are a little awkward right now. That's all."

"Really? Because it looks like he's trying to get your attention," Dale told her, nodding his head in Daryl's direction. Harper glanced up and saw said man quickly look away and bite his thumb nail.

"I need to get him to stop doing that. Dead giveaway that something's bothering him," Harper mumbled and pushed herself off the RV to walk over to him. She told Dale a quick goodbye and joined Daryl by the bed of the truck. He'd managed to get Merle's bike down and loaded the side bags with some supplies.

"What's up, Dixon?" His eyes were shifting from her to the RV then to the bike and back.

"Ya not gonna ride with me?" He asked, almost a whisper like he didn't really want her to hear his question. It floored Harper.

"I uh didn't think you wanted me to."

"What?" Daryl actually looked confused by her answer and Harper laughed, all her insecurities washing away. She patted Daryl's arm and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm riding with you." Daryl nodded and watched her pull her long hair up in a messy bun, blonde strands falling loose around her face.

"I haven't been on the back of a motorcycle since I dated a bad boy in college. My brother lost his mind when he found out," Harper added causing Daryl to smirk. He grabbed his crossbow and put it on Harper.

"Too hard ta keep it on with ya behind me." That was all he said and swung his leg over the bike to get settled and start it. Harper lightly fingered the strap running across her chest, realizing again how much he trusted her to be able to handle one of his prized possessions. Following his lead, she threw her leg over the bike and settled down behind him.

She was flush against him; this was the closest they'd ever been to each other. Eyeing his clothed back, she thought back to the scars she'd seen back at the quarry but pushed those memories away. If Daryl wanted her to know, he'd tell her in his own time.

She let her hands rest on his sides and saw his ears pink up at her touch. It was endearing to see him get embarrassed over little things like that.

"Are you sad about leaving your truck behind?" Harper asked as he drove them over to Rick's station wagon.

"Nah, jus' a truck."

"Bet you lost your virginity in it," Harper teased, wanting to get him worked up. She liked seeing his ears turn red. Which they did. Even more than they already were.

"Oh my God. You did!" She laughed with an easy smile on her lips.

"Shaddup."

Harper quieted down and listened to Rick explain the route he and Glenn decided on. The straightest shot with the least amount of mileage.

"Daryl, will you and Harper lead? You'll be able to see ahead if there are any hazards," Rick said. Daryl nodded and looked at the map again so he could remember the highways they were wanting to take.

"Hey, D?" Daryl turned his head so he could look back at his blonde companion. "You'd tell me if you were planning on going off on your own, right?" Harper didn't want to go to Fort Benning; her last experience with the military wasn't the greatest, but Daryl hadn't objected to the group's new plan.

"Don' worry, Princess. I ain't leavin' ya," He mumbled and watched everyone start piling into the two cars left. Harper nodded and let her cheek rest against his shoulder. Rick gave him a thumbs up when they were ready and Daryl picked his feet up as he started accelerating. Harper wrapped her arms around him and left her head where it was resting and closed her eyes, trusting Daryl to keep them safe.

Harper didn't know how long had passed before she felt Daryl start to slow down. She peeked over his shoulder and saw the car pile up ahead; a semi was even on its side, blocking a good section of the interstate.

"Is the RV going to fit?" Harper asked.

"Let's see." Harper looked behind them and saw the others stop while they went on ahead. Daryl carefully weaved through the wreckage and turned back to tell them it was okay to pass through.

"Did you find a way through?" Dale asked from the RV. Daryl nodded and turned again to lead them. They'd only made it a little ways in when Harper heard the sputtering and air hissing behind her.

"Daryl, hold up. There's something wrong with the RV again." Daryl stopped the bike and glanced back at the white smoke billowing from somewhere under the hood. He cut the engine and helped Harper get off, lifting his crossbow off her at the same time. Her legs were tingling from sitting for so long. She attempted to rub some feeling back into them as Daryl started looking in nearby cars for supplies while the others argued about what to do.

Eventually everyone was spread out, siphoning gas and gathering what they needed. Harper was going through a trunk, looking for anything useful and grabbed what she thought was a cloth. Her hands gently unfolded the baby onesie; the white cotton covered with soft pink flowers.

Looking into the backseat, she saw the handle of a car seat and suddenly felt sick to her stomach. Flies buzzed inside the car and the smell of rot filled her nose. She dropped the onesie and took several steps back, taking deep breaths as she went.

She'd never thought about the children and babies that passed when all this happened. The only walkers she'd seen so far were adults. Her stomach lurched again and she felt like gagging.

Daryl appeared at her side having seen her from a few cars away. He didn't have to say anything, but Harper just shook her head and took a few more breaths.

"I'm fine. I was just caught off guard." Daryl squinted his eyes at her and looked back at the car. It took a second for him to see the onesie that she'd dropped on the ground. Daryl looked back down at her, the question still showing on his face.

"I'm fine. Promise. I just had to take a second."

"Get under the cars!" Rick spoke quickly, jogging down the highway. Harper and Daryl saw him pushing Lori and the kids under a few cars up ahead of them. They quickly heard the snarls and groans of several walkers getting closer.

Daryl reacted first. Like usual. He grabbed Harper by the elbow and shoved her under the car next to them, quickly following after her. He was practically on top of her so that neither of them could be seen from the outside.

Harper must have made a noise without realizing it when the first foot appeared by them because Daryl's hand came out and clamped over her mouth, silencing her. Her heart was in her throat as they watched the amount of walkers ambling past them; it was never ending.

Daryl's eyes were narrowed, his head constantly swiveling to check all the corners, making sure none of the walkers were sneaking up on them. Harper's hand came up to cover Daryl's that was still cupped over her mouth, needing his stability.

Her blue eyes darted around, trying to find their group members. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw T-Dog bleeding profusely and stumbling away from the walkers. Squeezing Daryl's hand, she got his attention and pointed over to T-Dog.

"Shit," Daryl hissed in her ear. "Don't move." He waited for a break in the shuffling feet around him and rolled away from her and ran over to T-Dog. They disappeared behind another set of cars, and Harper suddenly felt chillingly alone. She couldn't see anyone else, only the endless parade of undead feet.

Inching her fingers down, she let them rest on the hilt of her knife, making sure it was still there in case she needed to use it now that Daryl was gone. There was a banging sound next to her and she turned just in time to see a walker falling down after tripping over a piece of debris in the road.

The walker groaned and moved to push itself back up, but its milky eyes found Harper under the car and started inching towards her, its jaw snapping in hunger. Harper's eyes widened, but she forced herself to remain silent. Her fumbling fingers undid the snap on the knife holster and she brought the knife up close to her face.

The walker kept dragging itself closer to her, snarling and reaching its grimy fingers out for her. Its putrid smell filled her nose, but she kept waiting until it was close enough for her to strike out. Plunging the knife forward, Harper imbedded the blade into the walker's eye, watching the body still and lay motionless on the concrete.

Harper pulled the knife free and checked all four corners like Daryl had done. None of the other walkers seemed to noticed this one crawling under the car and kept walking past it.

She waited several more minutes, waiting to see if any walkers were falling behind the main group. The walker she killed was suddenly yanked back and out from under the car, startling Harper enough to make her gasp.

Daryl's anxious face appeared and he let out the breath he was holding. He reached under the car and helped Harper crawl out.

"Ya good?"

"Yeah. I had to take care of an uninvited guest. Where's T-Dog?"

"Over here. Not lookin' so good," Daryl said and led her over to the half conscious man propped up against the RV. Jacqui was already next to him with the first aid kit in her hands. Harper took one look at him and grabbed her kit and started treating his arm.

"Sophia!" They all looked up and over to see Rick running into the trees and disappearing. Daryl hesitated, looking down at Harper and T-Dog.

"Go! We'll be fine here," Harper said, holding pressure on T-Dog's arm, making him wince in pain. Daryl nodded and took off after Rick, jumping over the guardrail and disappearing into the foliage.

"T-Dog, wake up. Hold pressure on your arm; I'm getting the needle ready." T-Dog blinked and grabbed the shirt wrapped around his forearm and held it as tightly as he could. Jacqui tried to help him and kept speaking softly, attempting to keep him coherent.

"Glenn! I need you!" The boy turned and ran over to them when he saw all the blood covering T-Dog's shirt.

"Did he get bit?!"

"No, he cut his arm open on a car. Help him hold pressure." Glenn grabbed T-Dog's arm as the other man finally passed out from blood loss. Jacqui kept a hold on his other hand and rubbed it soothingly even though he was no longer conscious. Harper unwrapped his arm and threw the sutures in as quickly as possible to slow the bleeding.

Glenn grew pale but stayed by her side, handing things she asked for. Harper finally wrapped T-Dog's arm with a clean bandage and looked around. Daryl and Rick were still gone. Clenching her teeth, she sucked down her pride.

"Shane! Will you help us move T-Dog into the RV?" Shane eyed her suspiciously but kept quiet and helped Glenn move their friend inside and down on the bed in the back so he could sleep it off.

"Glenn, come with me. We're gonna see if they're on their way back with Sophia." Shane took Glenn and headed in the direction the other two men had gone. Carol was a mess, standing at the guardrail, never taking her eyes away from the trees, keeping her arms wrapped around herself.

Seeing Jacqui stay inside the RV to watch over T-Dog, Harper joined Carol, reaching out to squeeze her shoulder. Carol glanced at her from the side of her eye and forced a teary smile. Harper let her hand fall back down and didn't promise that Sophia would be found, but she stayed next to her, giving her silent support.

Shane and Glenn came back a few minutes later with an update.

"Rick killed the walkers that were after Sophia, but he and Daryl are still trying to find her. Daryl found some tracks and they're following them. In the meantime, we need to be getting ready to leave once they do find her."

Harper watched the panic set in for Carol, but the older woman remained silent and stood her ground by the guardrail. Everyone slowly walked away to start going through the cars to look for more supplies.

Eventually, Harper left Carol too. She grabbed an empty bag and started combing through cars, looking for medications and supplies the group may not think are important right now. She found things like sunscreen, vitamins - no telling if they're going to have enough food to fulfill how much they really need - different painkillers and antibiotics.

It wasn't until the sun was beginning to set that Harper looked up from the trunk of a car and realized how much time had passed. She glanced to the treeline, but there still wasn't any sight of their missing campers. Carol was still standing along the guardrail, a distant look in her eyes.

Sighing, Harper heaved her bag over her shoulder and carried it back to the RV. She let it drop in front of Glenn and smiled.

"I found a lot of medical supplies in a car over there. I think the driver was a doctor of some kind. There's even some antibiotics." Glenn crouched down and rummaged through her bag, smiling a little more.

"Yeah, this is awesome. I couldn't find some of these things when I went of my runs." Glenn picked the bag up and took it inside the RV.

"How's the hose coming, Dale?" The old man peeked around the front of the RV. He wiped his sweaty brow and moved so Harper could join him, looking at the engine.

"I think we've finally found a match. This one will at least last and doesn't need all the duct tape like the last one."

"They're back!" Harper and Dale turned to the trees, seeing Rick and Daryl emerge. Her heart sank not seeing Sophia with them. Harper jogged to the edge of the highway and immediately wrapped an arm around Carol's shoulders, seeing her swaying on her feet.

"Her trail went cold. We'll pick up again in the morning," Rick said softly, his face full of emotion. Carol shook her head and leaned into Harper a little more.

"We can't leave my baby out there in the dark," She sobbed. Daryl made eye contact with Harper before settling back on Carol.

"Out in the dark's no good. We'd jus' be trippin' over ourselves, more people gettin' lost." Carol stepped away from Harper, clearly getting more agitated.

"She's a child! She's only twelve-" Her voice cracked on a sob.

"Carol, I know this is hard, but please try not to panic. Daryl is better in the woods than any of us; he's going to be overseeing this. We know she's out there, and none of the walkers we took down had been near her," Rick tried to comfort her.

"How can you be sure?" Andrea's voice grated on Harper's nerves and she saw how tense Carol got when she asked that question. The men were silent for a minute.

"We cut the sumbitches open. Made sure," Daryl's deep voice filled the quiet highway. Carol sobbed again, starting to breathe a little faster. Harper stepped forward again and directed her to the guardrail.

"Sit down, Carol." Harper crouched down in front of her, "Look at me. Take some deep breaths. It won't do any good to have you passing out on us." Carol nodded, tears streaking down her face, attempting to slow her breathing. Lori came over and helped Carol up and walked her to the RV to get her to rest.

Harper stood and faced Rick, but he shook his head and took a step back. Turning, he stalked away without another word. The group dispersed and left only Harper and Daryl.

"You okay?" Daryl nodded and thumbed the string of his crossbow. He looked lost and it tugged at her chest. Reaching out slowly, she grabbed his free hand and gently tugged him along. This wasn't the first time she'd grabbed his hand, and she was still surprised that he never pulled away from her touch.

"Let's go figure out where we're sleeping tonight. There's not enough room in the RV for everyone."

The sun was low on horizon when she and Daryl decided on a pick up truck near the RV. They laid a couple of blankets down in the bed of the pick up and settled against the cab so that they were still able to sit and see the quiet highway.

"You wanna talk about it?" Daryl refused to look at her and just crossed his arms over his chest.

"Shouldn't of run off like that." Harper assumed he was referring to Sophia, and it didn't look like he was open to saying much of anything else. She knew Daryl cared about the group, especially the kids, even if he tried not to show it.

"Gonna sleep tonight?" She asked instead of the other questions buzzing in her head. Daryl just shrugged and gestured towards the RV where they could both hear Carol mourning Sophia. Her cries had grown louder in the past hour, and Harper was worried it may draw in more walkers to them.

They sat there. Listening to Carol and the crickets.

"I'm goin' back out there," Daryl announced, standing and grabbing his bow. Harper was up in two seconds, climbing out of the truck behind him.

"I'm going with you this time. No more leaving me behind." Daryl paused and looked down at her, but he relented and jerked his head in the direction of the trees.

"Where're you two going?" Dale asked from his perch atop the RV.

"For a walk. Getting some air and gonna look around a little more," Harper called and scurried after Daryl before Dale could say anything else. Daryl tossed an industrial flashlight to Harper and let her be the one to lead the way into the dark. He was close to her, eyes alert and taking in their surroundings.

"This reminds me of hunting with my older brother," Harper said softly as they walked, swinging the light around to check for walkers or Sophia.

"Ya never talk about yer family," Daryl commented.

"Neither do you."

Silence. Harper chanced a glance and saw his angular face tense. "His name is Lucas." Daryl's eyes shot to her and back to the path they were making.

"He's a few years older than me; probably thirty by now… He was my best friend growing up, always looking out for me, chasing boys off. Typical protective older brother. He taught me to hunt, shoot a gun. He even snuck me out on Friday nights and let me drive his truck before I had a license."

"Sounds like a good guy."

"The best…" Harper trailed off, seeing Lucas' wide smile in her mind. She'd hadn't stopped before now to really think about her family and what could have happened to them. "He was my hero growing up; he protected me from some pretty bad stuff." Harper grew quiet and wrapped her arms around herself, getting lost in bad memories.

"Yer dad?" Harper was surprised that Daryl was actually continuing the conversation, but she couldn't blame him. She was equally curious about his past.

Clearing her throat she finally replied, "No. My uncle when I was younger and later an ex that wouldn't take no for an answer. He was always there for me, but he lived further north. When I tried calling after the hospital was raided, the call kept dropping. I couldn't get ahold of him or our parents. I don't know what happened to them."

She didn't think that Daryl would say anything else, but he continued to surprise her. "Merle's an ass, but he tried his best ta look after me. My ma died in a house fire; left her cig lit next ta her bed. My pa was a mean drunk." Daryl's eyes glazed over a bit as they walked before he came back to the present.

"Took his anger out on us. When Merle left fer the military, it was jus' me and Pa. Left me the marks ta remember 'im by. Merle came back and I never saw the man again."

"Guess I need to give Merle a little more credit when we see him again," Harper said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Nah, he'll deny bein' a nice guy," Daryl snorted.

"How far did you and Rick go today?" She asked, looking at the unfamiliar area around them.

"Little east of here. It's quiet now."

"What are the chances of us finding her?"

"Not likely, but I ain't stoppin' 'til we have proof she's gone," Daryl said firmly. Harper nodded and move the light again to check their sides.

"I just can't imagine a child out here on their own."

"Hell I was a lot younger than her and got lost in the woods. Nine days, nothin' but berries and wipin' my ass with poison oak. Made my way back home 'ventually. Kids can survive out here; I did but my ass itched somethin' awful when I got home."

Harper bust out laughing, looking at Daryl's lips twitching up on one side.

They combed through the trees for another hour before making their way back to the camp. By the time they reached the guardrail, Shane had taken up watch on top of the RV and Carol was silent inside. Shane watched the pair walk back but kept his eyes mostly on the road.

"C'mon, Princess. Get in the truck, no time for fightin' tonight." Harper wanted to shoved Daryl away but his reflexes were too fast and he was already a few steps out of her reach when she tried.

She settled down on the blankets in the bed of the pickup and waited for Daryl to do the same, but he remained sitting above her on the roof of the cab. His boot clad feet dangled near where she lay, but she didn't say anything and let him stay up to keep watch over them. He'd sleep when he was ready to.

* * *

The next day, they'd split into a couple of groups to keep looking for Sophia with Dale staying back with T-Dog, who he recovering from his injury, and Jacqui stayed to help the men out. Rick and Shane took Carl off in one direction; Harper wasn't sure why Lori was okay with her husband and ex-lover being alone with her son, but it was Lori's choice, not hers.

Daryl was leading their group which consisted of Andrea, Lori, Glenn and Carol. They'd only been separated for a few hours and they heard a gunshot ring through the air. Everyone paused and looked in the direction it sounded like it came from.

"Do you think that was Rick and Shane?" Carol asked, softly.

"They wouldn't have used a gun to put a walker down," Lori said, eyes wide, looking into the trees like they would suddenly get an answer. Harper and Daryl made eye contact and moved to keep walking.

"Need ta keep movin'." The rest slowly turned and followed behind Daryl again, but a new tension filled the air due to the unknown gunshot.

It wasn't more than thirty minutes when they heard what sounded like a horse galloping. They all stopped again and saw a woman riding up to them.

"Lori Grimes?!"

"I'm Lori."

"Rick sent me. You need to come with me. There's been an accident; Carl was shot." Lori almost fell over at the news.

"He was shot?" Harper asked, joining Lori in front of the new woman.

"He's still alive, but you need to come now!" Lori was already ripping her backpack off to climb onto the horse behind the woman.

"Woah! Ya can't get on that horse. We don't even know her!" Daryl yelled, but Lori ignored him.

"Rick also said to make sure Harper came. Backtrack to Fairburn road from the highway. Two miles down is the our farm. Mailbox says Greene." Just like that, the woman took off with Lori behind her.

"Daryl," Harper whispered. He nodded and they began running back to the highway, the others trying to keep up behind them. They made it back in record time; Dale almost had a heart attack when they burst through the foliage. Glenn and Andrea filled him in as Harper grabbed her backpack filled with medications and supplies and jumped on Daryl's motorcycle behind him.

"You guys come whenever you get the chance!" Harper called over the roar of the bike's engine. Daryl kicked off the asphalt and sped down the highway like they were told. Harper held on for dear life and hoped they made it there in time to help.

They spotted the mailbox and turned down the dirt road. A large, white farmhouse came into view. Harper could see Lori and Rick standing on the porch.

Rick heard the motorcycle before he saw it; relief flooding his body when he saw Harper sitting behind Daryl. Daryl slowed the bike to a stop and let Harper leap off it, running up the stairs to Rick.

Rick's emotions spilled over and he pulled her into his arms. Carl was stable, but knowing that Harper was there to help too calmed more of his fears. Harper wrapped her arms around him in return and held him tightly.

"Is he okay?" Rick nodded mutely into her neck. He finally released her and ushered her into the room where Carl was laid up in the bed.

Harper quickly assessed him, taking in his pale, sweaty form. She took her backpack off and opened it, going through a few supplies they may need.

"Harper this is Hershel. He's a vet and treated Carl when we got here. Hershel, this is Harper; she's an ER nurse." The old man shook her hand and wished they were meeting under different circumstances. Harper quickly asked what all he'd done so far.

"Good. Good. We need to treat his fever then. I found some antibiotics that could help. He might need a blood transfusion too; his lips are too pale." Harper reached out and pushed Carl's lower lip down, seeing that his gums were also a pale pink.

"Rick has the same blood type and we did a transfusion a little while ago," Hershel told her.

"Let's wait another hour and see if he improves. If not, I'm O-negative and can give him some of mine too."

Rick stood in the doorway, watching the two talk about what to do for Carl and felt a hand on his shoulder; Daryl finally joined them inside. The hunter frowned when he saw the state Carl was in. His eyes followed Harper's movements as she went from looking over Carl to grabbing things from her bag; things Daryl had no idea what to do with.

"So when Shane and Otis come back, they'll have the extra supplies for surgery? I was oriented to our trauma OR so I can assist you. I've been present for several operations for internal bleeding."

"Patricia usually helps me, but it would do well to have someone who knows human anatomy as well. Animals tend to be built slightly different," Hershel tried to say lightly. Harper nodded and finally stood up and walked outside with the rest of the group.

"Can uh can this be fixed. Realistically?" Rick finally asked. Lori hiccuped and turned to a window to avoid looking at the rest of them.

"If we were in a sterile OR with the proper medical team and equipment, I would say yes. But in a bedroom that we will make as sterile as possible with a veterinarian and a sometimes OR nurse, I would still say his odds are better than most. The fact that he's stable is a good sign; we just need Shane to hurry up and get back before his abdomen gets anymore distended."

Rick nodded and thanked her again before ushering Lori back into the room with Carl. Daryl leaned against a wall and rubbed the toe of his boot against the wood floor of the sitting room.

"Ya think he'll make it?"

"I hope he will. I didn't lie about his odds being better, but they still aren't the best. The chance of him developing an infection from all this is pretty high too." Harper leaned against the wall, letting her arm brush Daryl's.

"The kid don't deserve it."

"No. He doesn't." Harper looked at the closed door and frowned further. Carl held a soft spot in her heart, and seeing him helpless in that bed destroyed her. He sought her out when they were still at the quarry, he confided in her, he trusted her. She would do everything she could to make sure he pulled through.

* * *

**Note: This chapter is longer than the others; it ran away from me and I couldn't decide where to end it. But you got a peek into Harper's past. That's just the tip of the iceberg, and there will be more to come later.**

**Leave a review and tell me what you think! I like the idea of Harper becoming a confidant for Rick. We'll see (:**

**~LL**


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